ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann — The Fisherman’s Beach in St Ann’s Bay received a much-needed facelift when Sandals Earth Guardians and community volunteers from Sandals Dunn’s River and Sandals Royal Plantation cleared more than 1,000 pounds of garbage and discarded items from the beach recently.

The Sandals team also donated a number of school supplies as well as conducted an environmental awareness session with children who reside in the community. The tourism workers explained the importance of keeping the beaches clean and urged the students to assist in anti-litter campaigns in their community.

The beach clean-up is part of a quarterly coastal clean-up campaign the two Sandals resorts will be undertaking along several beaches in the parish, in partnership with the team at Beaches Runaway Bay.

The volunteers filled scores of bags with items washed ashore such as plastic and glass bottles, clothes, household items, sandbags, and car batteries.

Through this initiative, Sandals Dunn’s River, Sandals Royal Plantation and Beaches Runaway Bay hope to spread awareness and encourage everyone to stop trash at the source, a mission the Sandals Foundation fully supports.

The labour of love will be a collaboration between three environmental groups at — the Sandals Community volunteers, Earth Guardians, and the Sandals Foundation Ambassadors.

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

“We are really excited to have the environmental groups from both resorts participating in this important environmental exercise,” Sandals regional public relations manager with responsibility for both resorts, Ian Spencer said. “As tourism-driven organisations we understand the importance of our beaches and the role we as good corporate citizens play in keeping them clean and in a condition that will attract not just tourists but locals as well.”

Spencer said Sandals is cognisant of the fact that the beaches are heavily patronised by members of the local community for leisure and commerce, “which is why we are so happy to be able to work with members of the local community to keep this particular beach clean.”

Tajae Walker, Environment Health and Safety (EHS) manager at Sandals Royal Plantation, said the Earth Guardian group commits itself to preserving the natural surroundings through projects in the environment.

Shanice Hinds, EHS manager at Sandals Dunn’s River, pledged her resort’s commitment to help preserve the local marine life habitat

Joseph Walker, a member of the fisherman’s community, praised the Sandals community volunteers for their assistance in clearing the beach and said they looked forward to closer collaboration between all stakeholders.