Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod has issued a “clarion call” to Barbadians and members of the private sector to get on board with the National Clean-Up And Beautification Programme.
His call came yesterday as he addressed the start of the programme at The Whim Gully, St Peter.
The programme, which saw soldiers from the Barbados Defence Force joining crews from the Sanitation Service Authority and the National Conservation Commission to clean a number of sites from River Bay, St Lucy, to Long Beach, Christ Church, and The Whim Gully, will include watercourse clean-ups, tree trimming, debushing and the removal of Sargassum seaweed from beaches.
In addition, there will be bulky waste clean-ups, derelict vehicle removals, clean-ups of illegal dump sites, an anti-litter drive, a vacant lot clean-up and other forms of beautification.
Mission critical
Prescod explained to his audience of Government officials and members of private sector organisations that yesterday’s around-the-island clean-up was the beginning of the overall programme.
“The economy, the society and the environment must be seen as key parts of a whole if we are to succeed in our endeavours to address this mission critical.
“This programme speaks to the links between solid and liquid waste management, particularly of our water courses, biodiversity management, stormwater management and flooding, near-shore water quality and coral reefs,” he said.
Prescod added that an important part of the national clean-up campaign would be education to break Barbadians of their littering and illegal dumping habits.
Meanwhile, St James North Member of Parliament Edmund Hinkson, whose constituency includes The Whim, and who is also Minister of Home Affairs, which has responsibility for emergency management, said The Whim and its gully were problem areas and were the reason behind last year’s flooding in Gills Terrace, Speightstown.
In urging Barbadians to join in the clean-up, Hinkson advised them to be “more thoughtful and caring and not to be so selfish” because when they took their garbage and put it somewhere else, they were only “transferring the problem”. (HLE)
