The Newcastle Bay Foundation (NBF) championed a cause to help minimize the amount of single-use plastics that enter the marine environment of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The project was carried out under the Powering Innovations in Civil Society and Enterprises for Sustainability in the Caribbean (PISCES) programme that is being implemented by Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI). One of the main objectives of the PISCES project is to support innovative actions by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to conserve marine and coastal biodiversity in the Caribbean.
Single-use plastics are a major environmental concern around the world, including St. Kitts and Nevis. These plastics are not biodegradable, and they pose a threat to humans, animals, sea creatures, and plant life.
NBF set out to raise awareness about the adverse impacts of single-use plastics and to encourage more persons to reduce the use of single use plastics and to clean up single-use plastics from the environment.
Use of the Clean Swell App, an innovative tool that was developed by Ocean Conservancy to collect data from cleanup activities and upload it to a global database, was a key feature of the NBF project.
An essay competition and a Facebook challenge were designed to help achieve the project’s objectives, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The winners of the essay competition were Rondre Daniel from the Maude Crosse Preparatory School, Nykeisha Henry from the Nevis International Secondary School and Nicole Johnson in the open category.
The winners of the Facebook challenge were Aminique Chapman from the Joycelyn Liburd Primary School, who won in two categories including the grand prize, and Excellence Nisbett from the Maude Crosse Preparatory School. The Clean Swell App showed that a total of 843 items were cleaned up during the challenge.
The performance-based prizes included a laptop, a tablet, and 4 FLOW smartphones. All participants received reusable bags and reusable bottles to help reduce their use of single-use plastics.
Janice Daniel-Hodge, Secretary for NBF said that biodegradable plastic bags were also distributed to Newcastle Bay fishers to minimize their use of single-use plastics when selling fish.
NBF President Glennis David hailed the project a huge success and express sincere appreciation to all who participated.
For additional information visit http://newcastlebaynevis.org/ or visit their Facebook page