Campaign to be expanded in coming days

Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Kingston Harbour Clean-up Project is using technology developed in The Netherlands to clean up the harbour, returning it to its former glory.

Floating barriers have been installed at the mouth of several gullies, which are part of the Kingston’s storm-water management system. As the water gushes down into the sea, it brings trash with it.

Anything that floats is trapped by the floating barriers called booms. A solar-powered boat collects the captured trash and brings it ashore to be sorted.

Operations manager, Alecia Rose-Beaufort, explains that waste that can be recycled are picked up by Recycling Partners of Jamaica, and Caribbean Cement Company, which re-use those that cannot be recycled.

New technology being rolled out.

Jamaica is working with Ocean Clean-up, a non-profit environmental engineering organisation based in The Netherlands and founded by Boyan Slat. Ocean Clean-up is building a fleet of solar-powered boats it calls Interceptors specifically designed to capture trash within the narrow confines of estuaries.

They are so highly technologically developed that they can actually remove micro-plastics from the water along with water bottles and other floating junk. The smaller solar-powered boat being used in Kingston Harbour in Jamaica is an offshoot of that project.

The Kingston Harbour initiative, with backing by local government and the GraceKennedy Foundation, is not dependent on making a profit. A measure of success of the initiative is the outpouring of requests, which shows that they need something like this.

Managing director of Clean Harbours Jamaica, Michael McCarthy, believes if this project is proven to work in Jamaica, it could work for other coastal cities around the Caribbean. He disclosed that the project is being expanded and will see another barrier deployed in a matter of weeks.

Speaking with CleanTechnica, McCarthy argues that in times of climate crisis, he considers that developing new technologies is essential, especially given the risk of flash floods in the rainy seasons, when the volume of waste washed into the gullies is continually rising. The Jamaican project currently covers three gullies, with plans to expand to other locations in Jamaica such as Montego Bay.

Government and community support growing

A key part of the project is the partnerships created with the Office of the Prime Minister, Port Authority of Jamaica, National Environment and Planning Agency, and fisheries workers from Rae Town and Port Royal. Schools bring their students for educational tours.

Community members are recruited as staff but are also taught new maritime skills and given the chance to improve on the existing ones they already have. Furthermore, the programme trains local residents about the importance of the environment and waste management.

Some have gone on to become tour guides certified under the Tourism Product Development Company. The initiative is emphasising that “the example of Kingston Harbour is both a tribute to human ingenuity and a condemnation of an economic system that allows gigantic corporations to avoid paying 10 cents to clean up the mess they make when their products are discarded”.

Kingston Harbour Clean-up Project has been cited as a clear solution of making polluters pay, not just the bottling companies but the manufacturers, who make those bottles, food containers, and plastic bags in the first place.