MONTEGO BAY, St James — To mark World Earth Day, The Fisherman’s Co-operative Beach in Montego Bay received a much-needed facelift when Sandals Foundation ambassadors from Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Resorts International and Sandals Royal Caribbean Resorts on Monday.

Over 700 pounds of garbage and discarded items were cleared from the area by members of the team. The volunteers filled several bags with items washed ashore such as plastic and glass bottles, clothes, household items, sandbags, and car batteries.

“I don’t know if anybody has said it to you all, but thanks fi clean up River Bay Fishing Beach,” said an exuberant Eric “Eric Sangs” Harvey, who has been a fisherman for over 30 years. “Mi glad fi see the Sandals Foundation crew come and clean up man, uno do a really good job.”

The clean-up was a collaboration between two environmental groups at Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Resorts International and Sandals Royal Caribbean — the Earth Guardians, and the Sandals Foundation Ambassadors.

The teams started their efforts shortly after dawn combing the beach for plastic bottles, paper, and plastic, as well as disposable masks among other debris.

“We did a beach clean-up in this area last year,” Sandals regional public relations coordinator for Montego Bay Ashley Simms observed, adding that the Sandals Foundation is cognisant of the fact that the beach is heavily patronised by members of the local community, “which is why we are so happy to be able to work with the fishermen to keep this particular beach clean”.

Haniff Richards, environment health and safety manager at Sandals Montego Bay, said the Sandals Foundation commits itself to preserving the natural surroundings through projects in education, environment, and community.