Jamaicans Urged To Call Out Litterbugs
By: , June 10, 2022
Photo: SERENA GRANT
Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon (left) places the first bag of plastic bottles into the newly unveiled recycling bin at the Fisherman’s Beach in Montego Bay, St. James. Occasion was the opening ceremony for the National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day activities held at the facility on Wednesday (June 8). Looking on (from left) are Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Leeroy Williams; Operations Director at the NSWMA, Aretha McFarlane; and Acting Regional Operations Manager at Western Parks and Markets Ltd., Dramaine Jones. The day was organised by the NSWMA.
Photo: SERENA GRANT
Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, addresses the opening ceremony for the National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day activities at Fisherman’s Beach in Montego Bay, St. James, on Wednesday (June 8).
Photo: SERENA GRANT
Volunteers from the Hyatt Zilara Hotel in St. James remove garbage from Fisherman’s Beach as part of National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day activities at the facility on Wednesday (June 8). The day was organised by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).
Photo: SERENA GRANT
Artists redo a mural at Fisherman’s Beach in Montego Bay, St. James, during the National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day activities held at the facility on Wednesday (June 8). The day was organised by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).The Full Story
Jamaicans are being implored to speak out against persons who are harming the environment by littering.
Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, made the call as he addressed the opening ceremony of the National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day activities at Fisherman’s Beach in Montego Bay, St. James, on Wednesday (June 8).
“For Jamaica to be beautiful, for the oceans to be spared, for the fish to have a peaceful life, we must point out those persons who are ‘duttying up’ the place,” Mr. Gordon said.
He noted that too many persons seem to be comfortable with littering. “They litter at will. They even [say] that when they litter it provides jobs for people; [that is] nonsense!” Mr. Gordon admonished.
“You drive along the main roads… and see garbage along the roadsides. Bottles, lunch boxes and juice boxes thrown through car windows; people walking by, they finish drinking the water and just drop the bottle.
“[This is] a culture that is warped, it is flawed. We can litter, ‘dutty up’ Jamaica and as we go to New York or Miami we stop ‘dutty up’ the place. Why is it that we are comfortable ‘duttying up’ Jamaica, but as we come off a plane from elsewhere, suddenly a little demon just jumps into us and says :‘Oh, we can’t do it here’?” he asked.
He said that there needs to be a culture of keeping the surroundings clean to benefit citizens and the seas and creatures therein.
“Littering is dangerous, not just in causing flooding of areas where people live but it is dangerous to marine life. If we are going to fix Jamaica, fix the oceans across the world, we must desist from the wanton littering. So, I am using this occasion to call for some personal responsibility… we must say to ourselves: ‘I will not be a litterbug’,” he underscored.
The National Environmental Awareness Week and World Ocean’s Day event, organised by the NSWMA, included a beach clean-up, repainting of murals at Fisherman’s Beach, fish-cooking demonstrations, unveiling of a recycling bin, among other things.
The objective of the day of activities was to educate fisherfolk, students and the general public about proper solid waste disposal practices, while sensitising them about the effects of poor solid waste management on their welfare and marine life.