Protect Our Future (POF) hosted a successful beach clean at Smith’s Barcadere in South Sound this Sunday October 9th. POF partnered with Plastic Free Cayman and the Nauti Nomad along with over 30 local volunteers and removed almost 300 pounds of trash from our island’s shores.
Sadly, most of the debris collected was plastic and microplastics, although there were large pieces of trash including fishing lines that were also collected. Much of the plastic is now becoming microenvironments for various species. Bottle caps are now homes for marine species! Even baby mangroves are growing through and around plastic bottles. This problem is made worse by the vast amounts of plastic which inundate Cayman’s shores after hurricanes or tropical storms: in this case, Storm Ian. Each year Protect Our Future works with Plastic Free Cayman to survey different locations in an effort to track the amount of plastic pollution removed from various sites.
PFC and POF continue to push for a plastic ban policy similar to what has been seen on other Caribbean islands, particularly through the upcoming Climate March in George Town, which will focus on the same issue. There may be new found hope with the upcoming government to address this issue.
Quote: Evie Sweetman (16), Protect Our Future Leader—“It was truly inspiring to witness the community coming together in order to clean this beach after Hurricane Ian - particularly as Smith’s Barcadere is such a valuable community hub. We look forward to more cleans there soon!”
Below you will find the data for our clean up effort. Additionally, we have attached several photos (credit to Lilly Haug, POF leader).
Data:
Total Volunteers: +30
Total Pounds of Trash removed: +200 lbs
Average Pounds per Volunteer: 9+ lbs
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