JIS Joins NEPA to Clean up Shipwreck Beach
By: , September 20, 2022
Photo: Mark Bell
Members of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) team cleaning a section of the Shipwreck Beach, on September 17. The JIS partnered with the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and other volunteers to clean up the beach for International Coastal Clean-up Day 2022.
Photo: Mark Bell
End User Support Officer at the National Environment and Planning Agency, Joe-Wayne Davis (right), assists a member of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) team with weighing a bag of recyclable plastic that was collected from the Shipwreck Beach, Palisadoes, on International Coastal Clean-up Day, September 17. The JIS collected 161.5 Kgs of solid waste from the coastline, part of the 177 bags of garbage collected from the beach.The Full Story
Volunteers from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) joined hands with the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to clean up Shipwreck Beach, on International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICCD), September 17.
“Each year the agency tends to receive overwhelming interest from the public to participate and this year was no different. We are very pleased with the turn out [and] very pleased with the effort that we saw on the day,” Beach Coordinator at NEPA, Ms. Jodiel Ebanks, told JIS News.
International Coastal Clean-up Day is a global volunteer event geared towards removing solid waste from the coastlines of countries. NEPA, Jamaica’s public agency tasked with environmental protection, hosted groups in four locations this year, one of which was Shipwreck Beach along the Palisadoes strip.
Ms. Ebanks shared that for the Shipwreck designated segment of the Palisadoes strip, registered volunteers were approximately 180 persons, with non-registered volunteer groups also turning up on the day.
“Though the sun was pipingly hot, the volunteers were still active. They came, they did their part enthusiastically, and we received 85 bags of recyclables and 92 bags of undifferentiated, non-recyclables,” she noted.
These bags were collected by the Recycling Partners of Jamaica and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NWSMA), for recycling and disposal, respectively.
Donned in hats, protective gloves and civic pride, members of the JIS team collected 161.5 kg or just about 356 lbs of garbage that was strewn along Shipwreck beach.
Manager of the JIS Public Relations and Marketing Department, Andrea Braham, said that team JIS was happy to participate in ICCD 2022, and hopes that more persons will contribute to environmental protection.
“We at the JIS play a key role in educating the nation about the importance of protecting the environment. We recognise that it is also critical that all citizens take personal responsibility in cleaning up our immediate surroundings, as well as highly sensitive areas such as beaches, where garbage is washed out from other parts of the land. We hope that others will join the efforts to keep our environment clean,” Ms. Braham said.
Other volunteer groups that also partnered in ICCD with NEPA at Shipwreck beach included the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Jamaica Red Cross, Operation Help the People, Greater Purpose Foundation, the Kiwanis Club of St. Andrew, St. Hugh’s Preparatory and Edward Seaga Primary school, and the Girl Guides Association of Jamaica.