EMA cleans up Los Iros Beach

Published: 18 Jul 2010

About 40 to 50 large bags of garbage—ranging from large sheets of plastic to small pieces of broken glass—were collected from Los Iros Beach in south Trinidad. The garbage was collected by The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) recently when the Authority rallied to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s National Clean Up & Beautify T&T (C&B T&T) call. Los Iros was chosen due to specific environmental concerns that were noticed by the EMA team as they conducted site visits to the South Coast. “There are limited options for garbage disposal available to beach-goers, and lifeguards on duty told the EMA that after a sunny weekend the beach gets very dirty, with garbage often spilling out into the sand area with broken glass, plastics and styrofoam,” the Authority said.

EMA’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Joth Singh officially launched the clean-up which last several hours. Staff, family and friends, the Siparia Regional Corporation, Forestry Division, 1-800-Junk and EMA Youth Ambassadors also helped. Singh said, “The EMA is proud to be associated with this national clean-up as it affords the nation a real opportunity to show their commitment as concerned citizens.” He also said there needs to be an attitudinal shift in the way people think and act when it comes to littering and harming the environment. Singh also said the current litter legislative framework did not provide a strong enough deterrent to littering. He was looking forward to the new relationships to be fostered between the EMA and the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep). Singh also stressed that the EMA remained committed to supporting initiatives such as the C&B T&T campaign and to ensuring that sustainability was built into the clean-up projects via appropriate public education and awareness initiatives. Recycling and beautifying 1. All glass items were collected in separate crocus bags to be recycled by Carib Glassworks. 2. Also collected from the beach were very large pieces of rope, wire fish nets and tyres. 3. The EMA also did its part to beautify the area by planting trees that would thrive in coastal areas such as palm and almond. They were guided by forestry experts. 4. Los Iros was the second site the EMA undertook as part of the C&B T&T campaign. The first took place on June 12 in the Cacandee Road, Felicity wetland area. Source: http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2010/07/18/ema-cleans-los-iros-beach