Gibraltar Baton Relay clean-up highlights plastic waste at Waterport

A group of volunteers cleared a “considerable amount” of waste from the seafront at Waterport last weekend as part of the King’s Baton Relay programme on the Rock and in support of the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign.

The clean-up brought together Bayside School students and teachers, the Department of the Environment’s EPRU team, the Gibraltar Baton Committee and the ESG.

Volunteers, equipped by the ESG and supported by the Department of the Environment and the local Baton Committee, removed plastic, food wrappers and construction litter in little over an hour.

The Clean up was carried out in support of the ‘Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign’ by the Royal Commonwealth Society and formed part of the King’s Baton Relay programme on the Rock.

The initiative aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of plastic waste in the 74 Commonwealth member nations as they marked their time with the baton.

The ESG said the clean-up also highlighted ongoing problems at the waterfront site, where waste is believed to come from nearby trade and construction activity as well as food and drink litter left by people taking breaks in the area.

Follow-up action by the authorities was discussed on site.

The ESG said the clean-up showed “that citizen spirit is very much alive”, pointing too to beach clean-ups by The Nautilus Project and its own annual Flagship Clean-up Campaign, which has run since 2005.

This year’s ESG campaign will take place on September 20, with registration open via esg@gibtelecom.net.

The ESG said it “strongly welcomes the fact that a long-established event such as the King’s Baton Symbolic Relay, has this year, embraced the need to highlight the hazard of plastic waste in the oceans and need for action, in all participating countries.”

It added: “It also very much thanks those who helped clean up on the day who should be very proud of what they achieved for our living environment as well as supporting such a worthy cause of removing harmful waste from our seas.”