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Earth Today | Rotaract Club partners for International Coastal Clean-up

Published:Thursday | September 21, 2023 | 12:10 AM
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Members of the Rotaract Club of Kingston Shari Donald, Sashaun Falloon and Shari Watson work out a strategy for the clean-up of the shoreline at Palisadoes recently.
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Members of the Rotaract Club of Kingston Shari Donald, Sashaun Falloon and Shari Watson work out a strategy for the clean-up of the shoreline at Palisadoes recently.
Club prospect of the Rotaract Club of Kingston, Shomari Prince, retrieves the remains of a plastic hanger from among the debris found on the shores of the Palisadoes strip during the recent ICC Day activity.
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Club prospect of the Rotaract Club of Kingston, Shomari Prince, retrieves the remains of a plastic hanger from among the debris found on the shores of the Palisadoes strip during the recent ICC Day activity.
Members of the Rotaract Club of Kingston and partners from CMA CGM Jamaica pause for a quick photo op during this year’s observance of ICC Day on September 16.
Contributed
Members of the Rotaract Club of Kingston and partners from CMA CGM Jamaica pause for a quick photo op during this year’s observance of ICC Day on September 16.
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THE ROTARACT Club of Kingston (RCOK) recently collaborated with the international shipping and logistics firm CMA CGM Jamaica Ltd to support the clean-up of Jamaica’s shoreline.

The occasion was International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day, celebrated this year on September 16, and done as part of RCOK’s ongoing environmental conservation efforts. Together the entities fielded volunteers for the clean-up of ‘Beginning of Rocks’ along the Palisadoes. Their efforts yielded some 25 bags of garbage, including 5,300 plastic bottles.

CMA CGM’s corporate social responsibility ambassador, Daniel Whyte, said that the partnership with RCOK was important to the team and provided a strategic opportunity to remind staff of the importance of biodiversity and marine life preservation.

“We have a responsibility to our environment and should be contributing to sustainability and biodiversity. We used the opportunity to not only remove plastic and debris from our shoreline, but we seized the moment to share information and knowledge about the importance of environmental sustainability with our employees,” he said.

“A number of plastic bottles along with garbage continue to be deposited into our waterways, so it is still important for us to keep educating the public on the negative impacts that these actions can have on our marine life (and the wider environment), and our overall existence as humans,” added RCOK President Natasha Burnett.

According to Burnett, RCOK remains committed to restoring environmental resilience through diverse approaches, including through the club’s current mangrove rehabilitation programme, done in partnership with the National Environment and Planning Agency. The RCOK team are also proud fosters of a protected site along the Palisadoes-Port Royal protected area.

“Three years ago, we started our mission to ’Recycle, Root and Rehabilitate’, and we remain committed to the cause, while promoting behaviour change among our members and citizens,” Burnett said.

Additionally, the youth-led organisation has been on a recycling mission, recycling plastic bottles with Recycling Partners of Jamaica, and with the goal to expand the effort into communities and high schools across Kingston.