Chamber’s Earth Day Clean Up attracts more than 2,500 volunteers
More than 2,500 volunteers from across the three islands put on gloves, hats, sunscreen and comfortable shoes and collected tons of garbage from along beaches and streets in one of the largest cleanups ever organised in the Cayman Islands. Outstanding Chamber member businesses, organisations and the wider community embraced the Earth Day theme ”Invest in our Future” by removing unsightly litter and debris from our communities.
Chamber President-Elect Nelson Dilbert collected five bags of garbage. ”It’s been a great turnout. We had more than 2,500 volunteers which is amazing. Cleanups like this are just one-way individuals can get involved to combat the littering issue in our communities,” he said.
The Chamber and Corona launched a strategic partnership as part of this year’s cleanup. Corona organised a pay with plastic weigh station at the brunch at Coral Beach. Persons over the age of 18 were encouraged to deliver their recycle bags filled with plastics collected during the cleanup. Corona distributed vouchers for beverages for each bag turned in. Corona Brand Manager, Aaron Burcombe, reported that more than 77 bags had been counted at the plastic weigh-in station by noon. Corona is the first beverage brand to declare a net-zero plastic footprint globally. Protecting beaches is one of the sustainability projects undertaken by Corona as they aim to cleanup 100 beaches and eliminate one million pounds of plastic by 2025.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Department of Environmental Health (DEH) collected the trash and recycling bags throughout the Cayman Islands. Windell Scott from the NRA reported that they collected over 1,000 pounds of trash with one truck in one trip. Three NRA trucks were dispatched to collect the bags filled with litter.
The Hon. Kenneth Bryan, Minister for Tourism and Transport, participated in the cleanup. He encouraged all residents to take action to keep Cayman clean. ”We need to hold more people accountable for littering. Enforcement is key,” he said.
Cabinet recently established the Cayman Islands Beautification Task Force, an initiative 
spearheaded by Minister Bryan to preserve the islands’ natural beauty and improve its image. The task force will operate at a strategic level to restore a sense of pride in our islands by amplifying community consciousness to a level that will reflect the uniqueness of our culture, heritage and people, he said.
The Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank the following 34 sponsors for making this year’s Earth Day a success:
- Major sponsors: Cayman National, Davenport Development
- Event sponsor: Blackbeard’s/Corona Extra, Coral Beach and RBC
- Promotional sponsor: Digicel
- Tote bag sponsors: Cayman First Insurance Company Limited, Cayman Water Company, Dart, Fosters, Kensington Management Group Ltd, Rawlinson & Hunter, Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, Walkers, and Water Authority – Cayman
- Kids and Adults T-shirt Sponsors: Aquilae Consulting Group, Boddens, Butterfield, Carey Olsen, CG BritCay, Cost-U-Less, NCB (Cayman) Ltd., and Suntera Global
- Adults T-shirt Sponsors: Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd. Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre, Island Waste Carriers, Knighthead Annuity & Life Assurance Company, LJM Energy Ltd., Marsh, Nassau Financial Group, NCB Group, Public Service Pension Board, Rotary Central Cayman Islands and Vanguard Risk Solutions
- Other notable mentions: JUNK, Leos at UCCI Plastic Free and Protect Our Future