GUANABAY, St. Maarten – Members of The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset joined by the Interact Club of St. Dominic High school, the Interact Club of Milton Peters College, and other volunteers gathered at Guana Bay beach to conduct this year’s International Coastal Cleanup. The cleanup was organized by the Club’s Disaster Relief Committee led by Chairman, Antoine Flanders, in efforts to bring awareness to the importance of keeping our island and particularly the coastal regions free from pollution and waste.
The month of October is recognized by Rotary clubs worldwide as ‘Economic and Community Development Month’. As such the club deemed it necessary to address a few of the environmental concerns on the island, specifically the pollution of our beaches and coastal areas. The cleanup garnered 50 plus volunteers and overall collected 25 bags filled with garbage, weighing over 310 KG. The volunteers documented all items collected, which were inputted in Clean Swells, a data collection App specifically for the use of documenting the amount of trash collected from coastal regions across the globe.
According to Disaster Chair Flanders, “The purpose of the cleanup was not only to have the beach cleaned but to bring awareness of how our coastlines are being ill-treated. It also served as a platform to engage people around the island to be more mindful when disposing their trash and debris. With relevance to us still being in the Hurricane season, the cleanup was a great initiative as lying debris and other harmful garbage can become dangerous during a storm.”
The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the Pride Foundation for reaching out to the club to host the cleanup, Meadowlands BV for providing the bins and cleaning equipment as well as collecting the trash after the cleanup, Jovito for providing the scale used to weigh the garbage, Cake House for providing the snacks, MP Egbert Jurendy Doran for sponsoring the juices, and Jadira Veen for her assistance in providing guidance to the club and collection of the forms. The Rotary Club of St. Martin hopes to make this project an annual one and thanks all the volunteers and members who assisted in making the cleanup successf
