Several organizations were out in their groups to volunteer for an international coastal cleanup day. The event is celebrated every third Saturday in September. For 2019, a total of 190 clean up sites have been registered. This is 40 more than what was done last year. At that time, approximately 102,852 pounds of garbage was collected.
The coastal cleanup aims to raise awareness of many issues that are plaguing the environment. On Friday, Forbes.com released an article stating that the Caribbean islands are the biggest plastic polluters per capita in the world. It went further to note that of the top thirty global polluters per capita ten Caribbean nations made the list:
Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua and Barbuda
St Kitts and Nevis
Guyana
Barbados
St Lucia
Bahamas
Grenada
Anguilla
Aruba
According to Forbes.com, these islands generate more plastic than 20,000 space shuttles. While Jamaica is not on this list, there have been moves made locally to reduce pollution. The recent ban on plastics and styrofoam is one of their most recent legislative efforts.
The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) had also been playing its market, holding the government accountable and enforcing more environmentally friendly options for citizens to maintain a clean and safer environment.
KHADIJAH THOMAS
