Last Saturday (September 19), more than 300 volunteers mobilised by the GraceKennedy Foundation (GKF) removed 8,636 pounds of waste from Gun Boat and Buccaneer beaches in Kingston. The activity marked International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day and was staged under the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project (KHCP), which is facilitated locally by GKF and Clean Harbours Jamaica Limited, and funded by the international non-profit The Ocean Cleanup.
The cleanup marked an important milestone for the KHCP – its 30th volunteer beach cleanup since its launch in 2022.
Through cleanups, environmental education initiatives and waste-trapping barriers installed at the mouths of nine gullies across Kingston, the KHCP has prevented more than seven million kilogrammes of garbage and debris from entering Kingston Harbour.
During Saturday’s cleanup, volunteers collected a wide range of waste from the coastline, from plastic bottles to wash basins and car bumpers. The volume and composition of the items removed underscored the scale of Jamaica’s solid waste challenge and the continued need to prevent waste from reaching the marine environment.
Among the volunteers were more than 100 GraceKennedy (GK) team members and their families, participating through GKF’s Earth365 programme, which encourages GK employees to take part in environmental stewardship activities throughout the year. They were joined by representatives from 14 organisations representing corporate Jamaica, civil society and the international development community.
Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Matthew Samuda, also joined volunteers at the cleanup and highlighted the importance of protecting Kingston Harbour. “Kingston Harbour offers significant economic value to Jamaica. With the work of the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project, the hope is that the need for cleanups like this in Kingston will become less frequent, so that the effort can travel to other parts of the island that are in critical need,” said Samuda.
The waste collected this year represents a 13.5% decline from the 9,984 pounds removed from the same beaches during GKF’s 2025 ICC Day activity. This is consistent with the broader trend observed by the KHCP team in recent years, which has recorded less waste along sections of the Harbour coastline as efforts to intercept garbage before it enters the waterway continue.
“It is encouraging to see less material reaching sections of the shoreline that have benefitted from years of sustained cleanup efforts,” said Caroline Mahfood, Chief Executive Officer of the GraceKennedy Foundation. “While the Interceptors deployed at gullies across Kingston have prevented significant amounts of waste from entering the Harbour, the long-term goal remains the same – preventing waste from entering our waterways in the first place.” Members of the public can follow the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project on Instagram and YouTube at @cleankingstonharbour for updates on its work and opportunities to get involved.
