Wed | May 1, 2024

Earth Today | International Coastal Clean-up 2020 still in play

Published:Thursday | July 30, 2020 | 12:09 AM
A woman and her young charge participate in the ‘Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica’ initiative of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET). In addition to ICC, Nuh DUtty Up Jamaica is another JET initiative that is intended to rid Jamaica of solid waste.
Geoffrey Berry Photo
A woman and her young charge participate in the ‘Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica’ initiative of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET). In addition to ICC, Nuh DUtty Up Jamaica is another JET initiative that is intended to rid Jamaica of solid waste.

The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), national coordinator for International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day in Jamaica, has confirmed that its annual event will be staged this year.

ICC Day typically attracts thousands of volunteers turning out to remove garbage from Jamaica’s coastline; however, this year, due to COVID-19, JET has indicated that their activities will be scaled down to comply with Government of Jamaica protocols for public gatherings.

“Our paramount concern is for the health and safety of our ICC volunteers, site coordinators and JET staff involved in staging the event,” said Lauren Creary, project coordinator at JET.

“We will be mandating that all ICC events should be as small as possible – no more than 20 people per clean-up site, pending any further changes to the restrictions on public gatherings. Volunteers must also be equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of the virus,” she added.

As well as restricting the size of events, another change to the ICC format this year will be the way clean-up data is collected by volunteers. This year, JET will offer online training sessions on how to record ICC data using the Clean Swell mobile app.

The app, developed by global ICC coordinators the Ocean Conservancy, allows volunteers to record details of the type and quantity of garbage they collect on ICC Day, with or without mobile data.

In previous years, ICC volunteers filled out hard-copy data cards, which were tabulated by site coordinators and entered by JET in the Ocean Conservancy’s online database.

“The app allows us to skip those steps this year. COVID-19 has even taken beach clean-ups online,” Creary noted.

The time frame during which clean-ups can take place has also been extended by JET.

ONE-DAY EVENT

“ICC is always a one-day event on the third Saturday in September each year, but this year we will register clean-ups to take place throughout the months of September and October to allow for greater participation from the public,” Creary explained.

JET’s online registration of 2020 ICC Jamaica events will open on August 3 and close on August 25.

With the support of sponsors the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and Recycling Partners of Jamaica and other stakeholders, JET last year hit its long-standing target of attracting over 10,000 volunteers to ICC.

More than 12,400 Jamaican volunteers turned out to 182 clean-up sites across the island and collected 9,225 bags of garbage weighing an estimated 146,000 pounds.

The TEF has confirmed that it will continue its support of ICC activities in 2020, which will be held under the theme ‘Keep Wi Island Clean’.

“Despite the challenges associated with hosting ICC this year, we are committed to spreading the message of the importance of keeping our environment clean, which has even greater significance as we tackle a public health crisis like COVID-19,” said Dr Carey Wallace, TEF executive director.