IF you plan to host a river or beach clean-up activity on International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICC), you have until this Friday, August 15 to register as a site coordinator with the national coordinator of the global event — Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).

ICC is observed in September each year and is the brainchild of Ocean Conservancy. This year it will fall on September 20.

According to information from JET, a total of 648,015 volunteers in 92 countries picked up more than 12.3 million pounds of trash from the coastlines and waterways around the world last year.

“Just over 6,000 of those volunteers were Jamaicans, who removed over 65,000 pounds of trash from our beaches,” JET said.

“These dedicated volunteers collect data about the sources and types of trash harming our oceans and waterways. The data is used to raise awareness, inspire recycling efforts and shape policy decisions from the local to international level,” the group added.

As national coordinator of ICC in Jamaica, JET partners with the Tourism Enhancement Fund to host the flagship ICC beach clean-up event at Fort Rocky on the Palisadoes strip. It reported that over 2,300 volunteers — including students from 49 Corporate Area schools and 30 corporate teams — participated in the event last year, making JET’s beach clean-up the largest one on the island.

“A total of three miles of the Fort Rocky Beach on the Palisadoes Strip in Kingston was cleaned. Over 12,300 pounds of trash was collected, which included over 13,000 plastic bottles – the largest category of debris at that site,” JET said.

Registration for the Fort Rocky site closes September 5 at noon.