ESG Radio Newsletter 3rd June 2021 

CUTW/ Recycling/Litter/ World Ocean Day / La Linea protest / Cycle Ride

-A date for your calendar is Clean up the World that will take place on Saturday 18^th September. Some teams have registered already and we invite those interested to please contact esg@gibtelecom.net.

– Organisers hope that this event, now in its 17^th year, will be able to include our vibrant parade important for awareness raising to take place alongside teams cleaning up the usual hot spots.

-So has littering improved on the Rock? Are more of us recycling?  Are businesses, bars and restaurants recycling?  We can see for ourselves that many are still not and more should do so.

-As we become more mobile and active post Covid and warmer weather we consequently produce and see more waste left behind. We begin to see the effects of this in our full to bursting bins and littered green spaces and beaches.  We need to wake up and do more as a community – need to monitor, enforce and change attitudes. As we approach the Clean up we shall be actively engaging with clubs, schools, associations and partners who have worked alongside us each year to remind and reinforce good attitude and responsible behaviour among us all – to help protect our environment.

-However, active policing and enforcement against late night littering should be invested in by Government as the results are all too clear to be seen – degraded amenities for ensuing users and damage to infrastructure and natural environment. Some examples are Little Bay and Rosia leading to chronic littering, vandalism and the obvious offensive remains from public toilets either not available, or closed after sundown.

BBQing has become a must for many beachgoers – however beaches do not have adequate facilities for these throwaway kits, leading to greasy and dirtied areas greeting users the day after, used coals flung into green areas, onto shore etc. or, at times, into a plastic waste bin by a well meaning BBquer, leading to some actually catching fire! More action on this please, including the long awaited permits, which have not yet materialised. CUTW will present recommendations to Government as it does each year during  our Gib wide clean up.

Other topics:  World Ocean Day is being recognised this weekend on 5^th June with activity taking place on both sides of the border. A mainly underwater dive clean up is being planned for Rosia led by the Dept of the Environment involving various associations and entities, and a Protest is also taking place at La Linea’s ‘La Torre Beach’ near Santa Margarita on Saturday at 11am to march against the threatened major substation and marine cable project that will destroy another natural and increasingly rare stretch of coastline in Spain.

Also….for cycle enthusiasts this Saturday is World Cycle Day and a cycle has been organised by OTWO and the Gibraltar Cycling Association to promote cycling. This starts at 10.30 from Casemates.

Great to see such activism in the region on such an important global environmental date!! Hope you can support one of these actions.

Go to: esg-gib.net for more info on other issues.

Thanks for listening.