Thirty students from Milton Peters College removed 186 pounds of trash from Mullet Bay beach in just half an hour.
MULLET BAY–St. Maarten Nature Foundation organized a beach clean-up with students of the Milton Peters College (MPC) last week Friday. Thirty students removed 186 pounds of trash from Mullet Bay beach in just half an hour. They used the Trash Tracker method developed by ocean clean-up organization 4Oceans, weighing all the collected trash and using reusable bags and gloves. The students also learned about the harmful impacts of littering and trash on the environment, marine life and wildlife.
Littering causes serious negative impacts on nature and the environment. Being an island, trash and garbage in St. Maarten washes down to the beaches straight into the ocean.
Birds, marine- and wildlife are often found dead with stomachs full of plastic. Research from 2015 showed that 48 per cent of tested fish had plastic in their stomach. By 2050 it is expected to have more plastic in the ocean than fish, Nature Foundation said.
The MPC students learned how to prevent much unnecessary trash and to reduce their single-use plastic usage by using reusable products, such as a reusable water bottle, a personal shopping bag and a spork, instead of single-use plastics. All students received a donated reusable water bottle from the Nature Foundation to substitute their plastic bottles.
“We are proud of these students because of their hard work this day, and their achievements and willingness to help the environment of St. Maarten. These students may be the future generation to protect our natural environment and that is very much needed in St. Maarten,” said Nature Foundation’s project officer Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.
“We hope the students will proudly use their donated water bottle and prevent 365 plastic water bottles per year to enter our oceans by using the reusable ones. By using reusable products instead of single-use plastics, we are protecting our environment for future generations and reduce our waste output, as we all know the dump is already overfull. Nature is our future; let’s keep our island clean and sustainable together,” concluded Meijer zu Schlochtern.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/81785-mpc-students-clean-mullet-bay-beach
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