UNDER the motto “A Clean Heart Resulting in a Clean Community,” residents from several Montego Bay communities recently came out in their numbers to clean up their surroundings.

The project, which spanned Farm Heights, Albion Lane and the area between Cornwall Courts and Green Pond, was spearheaded by the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust, Recycle for Life, the Ridge to Reef Watershed project and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).

“It started around April when I attended the Salt Spring Seventh- day Adventist (SDA) Church to give a presentation on the environmental issues in Montego Bay,” said environmental inspector for NEPA’s western regional office, Charles McKenzie.

He said that the project began to take shape after the initial meeting when the church raised concerns about the environmental issues in their neighbourhood.

“When I realised the problem at Meggy Top in Salt Spring, I challenged the SDA church that when they go out to win souls for the kingdom they need to take into consideration the environment in the neighbourhood,” said McKenzie.

The idea was taken to the church’s youth federation, which accepted it and sent it to all four religious groupings in the church circuit. Since then, McKenzie has been working with that religious community to educate area residents and solve the problem.

“I met with Renee May from Recycle for Life and started to plan the whole thing (the recent community clean-up),” McKenzie told the Observer.

He added that he was happy for the incentive offered by Recycle for Life for recycled PET bottles that frequently block the western city’s North Gully. Debris from the communities that participated in the clean-up project frequently ends up in the gully and this was one of the factors that had influenced their selection as participants.

The project’s main aims were:

* the reduction of the amount of solid waste being dumped in the North Gully; and

* to effectively use volunteers from the communities as facilitators who will assist in helping other residents learn and practise proper solid waste management.

Among the volunteer groups were Farm/Green Pond All-Age, the Salt Spring SDA as well as Albion Lane community members. The project culminated with an environment fair where agencies such as the Tourism Product Development Company Ltd, the Montego Bay Forestry Department, the Health Department and Recycle for Life had display booths that provided information for members of the public.

One of the highpoints of the clean-up took place on Monday when one business operator who had been dumping garbage into a natural waterway was served a seven-day notice to clean out the waterway and put in a proper soak-away for refuse.

“We got an opportunity to send a message to the community,” McKenzie said of the incident.

He added that while the project was a success, it is not a “one shot thing” but would be a continuous process. He spoke of including other partners such as the National Solid Waste Management Authority to put in “skips” to collect garbage in the community and to educate residents about solid waste.

“I am not satisfied that enough is being done to protect the fragile tourism market in Montego Bay (and) the marine eco-system,” the environmentalist said. “Corals need good water quality to survive and the refuse will affect the coral reef which … gives us our white sand beaches.”