Press Release re CUTW 2014
A planning meeting for this years Clean up the World has taken place and arrangements are now firmly underway. A second meeting will be held on Tuesday 9th September at the John Mackintosh Hall at 7pm. It is a compulsory meeting for all team leaders.
Joining us this year and adding international flavour will be I-CARE, from Brussels, with an exhibition on renewable energy and sustainable living, bringing a fleet of electric cars for various displays. The ESG is also working closely with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
The Clean up action takes place on Saturday 20th September and it is important that volunteers register with the ESG well before as sites are allocated and teams equipped. Organisers of CUTW claim that in spite of the fact that many local hotspots have been tackled through the years of campaigning, littering persists, which mars and degrades our beautiful environment. “It is frustrating that the message is not getting through to a significant minority,” says key organiser, Janet Howitt, “We aim to highlight these prevailing problems once again via this public campaign, which we feel is important and necessary to do, but also recommend solutions and ways to improve this situation.”
The ESG says the campaign will be calling for Litter Wardens and more priority to be given to enforcement, but also for positive signage encouraging the community to respect and look after our homeland. A year round radio and tv campaign, extended to all type of social media, would also reinforce this principle. A Keep Gibraltar Tidy campaign aimed at both locals and visitors is also necessary.
The campaign also believes the present cleaning programmes must be stepped up and a sharper follow up to tackle problems as they appear is also necessary. “Gibraltar is our home therefore we want to see it respected. It is depressing when you see dog fouling, urine stained roads, and litter tossed about. Its not only bad for tourists,” says organiser Howitt who in spite of having run 9 years of Clean ups in Gibraltar, strongly believes we can and must achieve a litter free, clean environment. “We must find and apply solutions, to give up is not an option.”
The ESG is equally concerned about the impact our plastic waste in particular has on the marine environment. The impact from micro-plastics on the food chain is well known, quite apart from the immediate danger posed to wildlife. Welcoming the netting enclosure finally erected at the main refuse depot at Europa Advance Road this year, the group states this will reduce the litter blown out of the quarry for years, into the cliffs and water environments. The steady increase in recycling facilities is also positive and it is hoped that commercial volumes of waste will also be handled before the end of 2014.
Apart from the Parade and Clean up itself on Saturday 20th there will be a range of environmental events, workshops, and rallies from the 18th through to the end of the month and the community is invited to engage and support these. A detailed programme will be made available to the schools and public via local media.
ESG Committee
Organisers of Clean up the World Gibraltar
