On February 15, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) relaunched the Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica Cleanup Network under the project ‘Building Awareness on the Impacts of Improper Solid Waste Disposal on Public Health, Livelihoods and the Marine Environment’, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grant Programme (SGP). Through the Cleanup Network, 25 groups will be given kits including gloves, garbage bags, shirts and reusable water bottles, in addition to information about garbage collectors and recyclers, to facilitate a coastal or inland community cleanup in 2023.

This year, community based-groups selected to participate will be invited to a Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica coordinator training session covering the topics cleanup coordination, community waste management and recycling. The application deadline is March 1, and details can be found on JET’s Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica social media pages.

Lauren Creary, JET’s programme director, said: “We are really pleased that we are able to continue our work focusing on solid waste management and, more specifically, on plastics this year. We will work closely with these 25 community-based organisations interested in solving waste management issues in their community and keeping our island clean.”

The Cleanup Network is one component of this larger GEF SGP-funded project, ending in November 2023, that focuses on several aspects of the previous Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica project, which is a public education campaign aimed at empowering Jamaicans to take charge of solid waste management in their communities.

The components included under this current project include the public education campaign, the cleanup network and model communities. It also now includes an advocacy component looking at the plastic ban and National Waste Management Policy.

Jamaicans across the island can get involved in the cleanup network, along with other project activities in 2023, including beach cleanups, road trip events, and by sharing key campaign messaging on social media to further public awareness. 

The initiative is in line with the GEF SGP OP7 Plastic Innovation priority activities addressing community waste management, policy development and implementation, and raising public awareness.