On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, Anguilla Stronger organized teams of volunteers for an Island Clean Up Day to collect garbage in four locations across the island. The locations selected were Meads Bay Beach, the Main Road in South Hill, the Blowing Point/Jeremiah Highway and Island Harbour. The teams, totalling 196 persons, tackled the garbage collection in two shifts (early morning as well as early evening), with many also working all day at their regular jobs. The Island Harbour team collected the highest number of bags totaling 84, with the morning and evening sessions combined. Totaling the results of all four locations across the island, the Anguilla Stronger volunteers collected 241 full bags of garbage comprising items such as water bottles, food containers, soda cans & bottles, beer bottles, plastic bags, cigarette butts, empty boxes, etc.
The excessive amount of garbage which is improperly disposed of is a widespread problem which negatively impacts our island both from a tourism perspective, as well as an environmental perspective. The volunteers who work at the island’s four main resorts, Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Malliouhana, Belmond Cap Juluca and Zemi Beach House, recognize the importance of keeping our island pristine for the benefit of the environment, tourists and permanent residents. The volunteers displayed great team spirit and cooperation and many commented on how much they enjoyed working together.
“This was our one-year anniversary of the launch of Anguilla Stronger, and we wanted to celebrate the day by giving back to our community,” said Beth Shanholtz, Founder & Executive Director of Anguilla Stronger. “I’m grateful to our volunteers who embraced this effort and proud of the tremendous impact they had in just one day. The excessive amount of intentional littering across the island is alarming, and everyone must focus on reducing it significantly and permanently. It’s really bad for the environment, and quite unpleasant for tourists and residents to look at. This is the third or fourth Island Clean Up Day we have organized since Hurricane Irma. We hope our efforts will continue to raise awareness of this chronic problem and that everyone will be more mindful of disposing of their trash properly.”
Although littering of any type of item should be eliminated, plastic items such as water bottles, straws, food wrappers, soda bottles, plastic bags, etc are especially bad for the environment as they never decompose, and will eventually end up on our beaches or in our ocean if not properly disposed of. All residents should make a concerted effort to handle their trash properly and encourage others to do the same.
Let’s keep Anguilla pristine!
– Contributed
