ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) – Hundreds of volunteers are expected to join forces to remove garbage and other debris from beaches across the island on International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day.

The global initiative, aimed at improving the marine environment, will be observed on Saturday (September 17).

Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) Coordinator for ICC Day activities, Felecia Wong, said that this is the 23rd year that Jamaica is participating in the initiative.

She was speaking at the launch on Wednesday (July 27), at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James.

She informed that the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) is providing funding for the activities and focus will be placed on two sites in Kingston and Montego Bay.

She informed that last year 7,895 volunteers removed 79,560 pounds of solid waste from 122 miles of coastline.

Wong said the commitment of Jamaicans to clean-up activities on ICC Day has been growing, which is an indication of the increased awareness of the need to protect the environment.

“The event has grown from having 1,700 volunteers in 2008 to more than 7,800 volunteers last year… and each year, more persons come out, more groups coordinate their own clean-ups and more trash is collected,” she pointed out.

TEF’s Senior Administrative Projects Officer, Michelle Clayton Brown, said the entity fully supports the project and will continue to work with stakeholders on initiatives aimed at protecting the environment.

“We are trying to ensure that there is increased knowledge, that there is some pride (and) understanding that the protection of the tourism product is for locals… not just for visitors. We invite everybody to get on board… to ensure that there is widespread understanding and increased knowledge as to what is happening with our environment,” she added.

During the launch, JET unveiled its study entitled ‘Garbage and the Gully’ which investigated attitudes to solid waste management along Montego Bay’s south gully.

The 63-page document, sponsored by TEF, looked at environmental malpractices in sections of Montego Bay, which contribute to solid waste being washed into the sea.