Chamber holds biggest ever cleanup

(CNS): With some 1600 people involved this year’s Chamber Earth Day Roadside & Beach Cleanup was the biggest in the events history. More volunteers, more businesses and more organisations than ever did their bit to spruce up Cayman during the 12th Annual cleanup. Thousands of bags of garbage and debris were collected from all across the Cayman Islands and placed along roadsides for collection by the Department of Environmental Health.

“It is evident that many members of the community are taking environmental issues seriously and are willing to register their crews with the Chamber to do their part in keeping Cayman clean. We had over 1,600 persons register with us for the cleanup,” said Chamber CEO Wil Pineau. “Even more encouraging this year was the participation of large youth groups such as the C.I. Cadet Corp, Generation 4 Christ Youth Group, West Bay Scout Group, Duke of Edinburgh, students from St. Ignatius Catholic School, George Town Primary School, PACE High School, and Cayman International School.”

He added that it is vital young people are engaged by environmental activities to foster a generation of environmentally conscious citizens, capable of positive action.

“However, it is disappointing that with so much focus on environmental awareness, and all of the organised environmental activities that have taken place this month, there are still so many people who choose to litter our roadways and beaches with total disregard for our Island,” lamented Pineau.

However, the 1600 plus that do care they began their mission at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday 25 April collecting garbage and debris from beaches and the roadside. Following the cleanup volunteers joined the Chamber staff at Public Beach for a free brunch which was sponsored by BritCay. Courtesy of Hew’s Supplies, food was served on plates made of sugar cane and entirely earth friendly. The organisation also supplied environmentally friendly garbage bags which were used by volunteers to collect refuse.

In partnership with the Department of Environment, the Chamber also held a Green Generation Fair at Public Beach to showcase the rapidly growing green sector that has been established on the Cayman Islands. The conceptof the fair was based around the principles of encouraging individuals to commit to responsible, sustainable consumption, and of creating a low carbon, green economy.

The Chamber of Commerce would like to thank the Department of Environmental Health, the Department of Environment and their valuable sponsors of event including Barclays Private Bank, BritCay, Atlas Insurance Management, C.I. Beautification Committee, C.I. Yellow Pages, Cayman National, CIBC, CUC, Dart Management, Deutsche Bank, Foster’s Food Fair, Grant Thornton, Greenlight RE, Kensington Management Group, KPMG, LIME, Mourant, Phoenix Group, RBC, Sagicor, SteppingStones, The Real Estate Company, Transocean, Walkers and Water Authority-Cayman.