Earthday clean up attracts 1500 volunteers

(CNS): More than 1500 people from schools, businesses, church groups, and other community organisations early Saturday morning for the Chamber of Commerce’s 15th Annual Earth Day Roadside Clean-Up. Bags and bags of garbage were collected by the most volunteers the initiative has ever attracted, from the roads and beaches. “With fifteen years of this event behind us it just keeps getting bigger and better,” said Wil Pineau the Chamber’s CEO.

“The community spirit generated by this clean-up event is always spectacular. It’s a perfect opportunity for our members to work side-by-side for something that is meaningful to us all,” he added.

Pointing to the wider benefits of the popular clean-up he said it also remind people about the importance of the local environment. 

“Although our community benefits significantly from this event it is the economic benefits of taking care of our tourism identity that will positively impact our many businesses. Our beauty is bountiful but it still needs looking after. The Chamber sees this Earth Day event as an excellent way to remind people that we are caretakers of our environment and that we have an obligation to take that responsibility seriously. I am pleased to say that more people than ever took that to heart this year,” Pineau said.

Event sponsors included BritCay Insurance; Dart Cayman Islands.; Island Heritage Insurance; Kensington Management Group Ltd.; KPMG; Transocean Inc.; CUC Ltd.; The Phoenix Group; Conyers Dill & Pearman; Cayman Islands Yellow Pages; Cayman National; Foster’s Food Fair IGA; Department of Environmental Health; Mourant Ozannes, Walkers, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, LIME, Sagicor Life of the Cayman Islands, Grant Thornton, CIBC-First Caribbean International Bank, Appleby, Foster Food Fair, HSBC, Royal Bank (Cayman) Ltd. Consolidated Water Company Ltd. Cayman Maritime Authority, Greenlight Reinsurance Ltd., Miller Lite, CIBC Bank & Trust Company; and Caledonian Global Financial Services.

Special thanks were given to Department of Environment Health for providing latex gloves and garbage bags and the Recreation, Parks, and Cemeteries Unit who with a team of 20 staff and 7 pickup trucks will collect all the trash bags on today (Monday April 16) that were placed on the roadside.

Following the hard work and effort the volunteers enjoyed a free brunch at Tiki Beach sponsored by LIME.