HIGHVERN took to the beach on Bank Holiday Monday, not as a last-ditch attempt to top up their tans, but as part of an environmental cleaning exercise in conjunction with National Beach Day. The team invited members of the public to join them as they looked to cleanse Westpark Beach and the surrounding area at Jardin de la Mer of as much litter as possible following a busy summers use.
The clean-up crew were surprised at the amount of litter across the area and managed to collect 12.8kg of cigarette butts, broken glass, plastic, wrappers and packaging, along with some pirate treasure and a construction hard hat!
The event was made as plastic free as possible with rubbish collected using reusable bags and gloves and breakfast provided from Big J’s with minimal packaging. The collection will be split into recyclable goods before being disposed of.
Findings from the event will be submitted to Littlefeet Environmental who analyse collections from the island and beaches to help build towards a more sustainable future, thinking globally but acting locally. Despite the hard efforts of the team, there remained plenty of litter to clear and HIGHVERN urges people to be conscious of rubbish when they are out and about and to pick this up and bin it whenever they can.
Martin Hall, Managing Director at HIGHVERN, said: “We all felt very proud of our efforts at this clean up, but it is all too easy to remember that this is just but a drop in the ocean. With 8 million tonnes of plastic dragged into seas every year, every little bit helps, and we would love to replicate this event in the future and encourage more people to join us to keep Jersey clean and beautiful.”
