Coastal cleanup

06/04/2022

Environmental Club members of Marian Academy, Georgetown, Guyana - participated in the coastal cleanup.

On Saturday, March 26, 2022, eleven students from the Secondary and Primary departments, along with some parents from Marian Academy, participated in the Coastal Cleanup, which got on the way at 6:45 am, starting from the Seawall Band stand. This event has become an annual activity for our students. The team was guided and supervised by Ms. Ladonna Kissoon as well as several parents throughout the event. The students were delighted to observe that past students were also engaged in this activity.

“The purpose of the cleanup is to engage people around the world to remove trash and debris from beaches and waterways, to identify the sources of the litter, and to change the behaviours that cause pollution. Cleaning the beach also improves the coastal and ocean ecosystem by making sure that none of the trash kills marine life or is toxic enough to disrupt the marine life cycle. A beach cleanup is also an opportunity to gather fresh data about the state of our coasts and the types of trash that pollutes them.”

The weather was bright and windy and the whole experience was enriching and engaging. Many different types of garbage were collected ranging from bottle caps and straws all the way to entire shoes and back-packs. By 8:15 am the students had completely filled four to five large garbage bags with non-biodegradable waste that was previously littering the coast. Renika Anand, a Form 5 member of the Club, reported, “We learned a great deal, and we hope to continue participating in similar endeavours in the future”.

Renika Anand