Philipsburg: --- On Saturday, hundreds of volunteers turned out and braved the rains for the Sint Maarten's leg of the International Coastal Cleanup.
Held around the world in 100 countries and 6 continents on the same day, the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup is the largest volunteer event of it's kind.
On Sint Maarten, cleanup sites were the Mullet Bay Beach, Mullet Pond, Point Blanche Beach and an under water diving cleanup around two reef sites.
Preliminary figures shows that over 563 volunteers came out to the Mullet Bay Beach and Mullet Pond combined. Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation is still awaiting additional volunteer’s data, as some persons did not sign in during the event.
At the Mullet Bay Beach 144 trash bags were filled, this amount is less than last year's 205 trash bags. Many volunteers commented that the beach had less trash than previous years.
At the Mullet Pond 33 trash bags were filled, the Mullet Pond location had more heavy debris and household trash items, like an air co, a few car tires, an old dingy, a mattress, a printer, a dryer, metal and construction debris and a boat battery.
The Point Blanche beach was cleared and cataloged by the Scouting Antisana group, 35 volunteers and they collected 98.5 kilos of trash.
The underwater diving cleanup on two reefs, had 10 diving volunteers and some of the notable trash collected was part of a BBQ grill and beach chairs.
Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation is still awaiting the results from the Sr.Basilia volunteers who had Le Galion beach as their task.
The International Coastal Cleanup on St.Maarten has successfully become an example of true community spirit shown by the various groups and companies living on the island and taking part in the largest volunteer event for the environment.
Some of the volunteer groups included the Philipino community group, the Police force, the VKS members, the Air Traffic Control staff, Windward Island Bank employees, the Daily Herald employees.
Many local schools such as the Sr.Borgia, St.Dominic, Learning Unlimited, Caribbean International Academy, The SXM Academy School with their Team Green members, had students representing their schools. Timeshare owners at the Oyster Bay Resort were repeat volunteers as they enjoyed themselves last year and encouraged other hotel guests to join them for the beach cleanup.
Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation thanks the many volunteers for coming out and showing such a true community spirit in the interest of keeping our beaches and oceans clean.
A more detailed report on of the local International Coastal cleanup will be ready in a few weeks after all data has come in and finalized.
