We wholeheartedly welcome the news over the weekend that there are plans to transform plastic waste removed from our beleaguered Kingston Harbour into marketable products that could impact tourism while helping to make the harbour free of pollution.

The Kingston-based digital consulting agency Entertainment, Sustainability, Impact, Research, Online and Manufacturing (ESIROM) Limited has also assured that, once free of pollution, the harbour would be the perfect venue for activities now associated with resort areas.

“…Back in the day they used to have the harbour swim, when you could swim across from end to end, but because it’s so polluted now that’s not safe. Our aim is to clean up the harbour, remove the plastic, and then introduce other initiatives later this year and next year,” the agency said.

“Because the harbour is relatively calm you can do paddle boarding, you can do jet skiing, and you can enjoy other attractions that you’d normally only see in Ocho Rios or Montego Bay, but now you can have them in Kingston,” ESIROM founder and director Alex Morrissey added.

Kingston Harbour is one of those treasures that Jamaicans have long under-appreciated, but for the disparate groups which have tried doggedly to keep it free of pollution, especially plastics, almost to no avail.

The harbour, which is to be found on Jamaica’s south coast, is a semi-enclosed bay. The country often boasts that as the seventh deepest, and one of the finest natural harbours in the world, Kingston Harbour carries immense ecological, economic, and social value.

According to the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project, many people depend directly and indirectly on the harbour and its resources for their survival and economic well-being. It plays an important role in the supply of goods for the island as well as the generation of foreign exchange.

“The harbour also supports several industrial and commercial enterprises, with nearly 1,739 businesses located within one kilometre of its shore. Additionally, its environs provide homes for thousands of Jamaicans as well as livelihood activities like fishery and recreation, international air and sea transportation, and education,” the project informs us.

Yet, for all its value, it is fairly well known that for decades this vital resource has been under constant threat from pollution, such as discharges from ships, industrial waste, sewage from improper treatment practices, farming chemicals, and solid domestic waste from Kingston, St Andrew, and Portmore.

Much of this waste finds its way into the harbour through complex gully and river drainage systems, especially during heavy rainfall. This solid waste pollution not only discourages tourism and economic investments, but damage the mangrove forests and the flora and fauna that it supports.

This is one of the reasons we welcome the ESIROM initiative which says that over the past two years it has removed close to 10 tonnes of plastic waste from Kingston Harbour, and promises to begin weekly clean-ups to remove more plastic and process it at its upcoming facility, in partnership with Recycling Partners of Jamaica.

ESIROM pledges to wash, shred, and melt down the plastic into new products, such as sunglasses, that it will then market to tourists and the tourism sector.

We wish the company every success.