Coatal Clean up with Rotaract & Interact
Not afraid to get our hands dirty once it is the community or the environment. Congratulations to the Rotaract Club of Tortola for their great initiative and thanks to the support of the Rotary Family.
From http://www.bviplatinum.com
A quantity of plastic items, soda cans and other pieces of garbage were retrieved at Trellis Bay by dozens of volunteers who answered the call to action on International Coastal Cleanup Day last Saturday, September 20.
Jevaughn Rhymer, President of the youth volunteer group, Rotaract Club of Tortola, said club members along with Interactors comprising mostly high school students and members of the three Rotary Clubs of the BVI participated in the exercise. There was also a similar exercise undertaken on Virgin Gorda by the Rotaract Club of Vrgin Gorda.
According to Rhymer, the international cleanup campaign is the largest volunteer effort in the world, which is part of Ocean Conservancy's fight for trash free seas and is geared towards improving beaches and coastal regions.
"We participate in this effort every year in collaboration with the Department of Conservation & Fisheries because we understand the importance of a clean coastal zone and the implications when garbage remains there," Rhymer told BVI Platinum News.
He said the group collected high volumes of glass and plastic bottles, which have adverse impacts on marine life when washed into the water and consumed.
There were plastic drink cases and while in the past there was quite a bit of broken plastic chairs, this time around it was the usually large quantity of glass bottles, metal bottle caps, plastic utensils, empty plastic bottles of varying sizes, soda cans and other pieces of plastic and metal material.
The group also found electronic devices, old buoys and car parts.
"It not only affects the fish and other species who take in this waste, but it also affects us when we catch these species for dietary consumption," he stated.
The data collected and recorded will be submitted to Ocean Conservancy in an effort to add to statistics and also measure and determine the worldwide progress towards achieving trash free seas.
Last year, reports from around the globe indicated that over 12.3 million pounds of trash was collected during the one-day event, which is one of the largest volunteer gatherings on the planet.
Along with millions of cigarette butts and food wrappers, workers in 92 countries collected thousands of plastic and glass bottles, plastic and paper bags, and even an entire apartment’s worth of discarded furniture. Some of the weirder finds included an iPad, a plastic eye, a lava lamp, a loaded gun and all the staples of a wedding, including a wedding dress and ring.