OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Prompted by what he described as widespread littering on the streets of the major towns in St Mary and St Ann, general manager of Beaches Ocho Rios Brian Roper marshalled the procurement and donation of over 200 garbage drums to the councils in both parishes.

The bins were presented to chairmen of the respective councils, Richard Creary and Michael Belnavis.

Roper said he was prompted to seek the receptacles after noticing a lack of places for people to dump garbage in both parishes.

“I hope that persons will now stop littering the streets of our towns and use the bins for the disposal of garbage,” Roper said.

The Beaches Ocho Rios general manager said that the excuse many people give for dumping refuse on the streets was that there were no receptacles in which to put them.

“Now that they have garbage bins, we suggest they use them. There is no excuse for people to be throwing garbage out of cars or dumping refuse on our streets,” he said.

According to Roper, Beaches Ocho Rios — part of Sandals Resorts International (SRI) — was committed to assisting as much as possible with the call to “keep Jamaica clean” and partnered with corporate entities on the project.

“It is time for all well-thinking Jamaicans to make a concerted effort to ensure that we keep Jamaica clean. We have come forward to help in our parish and we urge other corporate entities and citizens to follow suit,” said Roper.

Speaking at the hand-over in Port Maria last Friday, Mayor Belnavis thanked Beaches Ocho Rios, adding that the municipal body which he leads would ensure that the bins are placed in all the parish council divisions.

“We urge our citizens to try and stop the littering throughout the parish, to make St Ann once again the beautiful place we know it to be,” Mayor Belnavis said.

He added that the parish council was already in partnership with a number of business entities to keep the major towns free of litter, and said that already Ocho Rios was looking much cleaner.

Mayor Creary, too, voiced his thanks to the resort and said that his municipality would place the bins where they are most needed.