In preparation for the upcoming Easter holiday and Cayman camping season, Plastic Free Cayman partnered with Royale Medical, Protecting Paradise, Cayman Eco, JGHS Leo Club, Clifton Alphaleos, and Protect Our Future to host a Barker’s beach clean-up.

With more than 100 total volunteers, over 800 pounds of marine debris and local litter were removed from the area, just north of Kite-surf beach.

Manu Pra, a young Caymanian aiming to tackle the plastic pollution problem, attended the clean-up. She just recently created her business, “Eco Eats”, providing free edible spoon samples to all volunteers.

PFC founder Claire Hughes was “happy to see so many volunteers on a breezy Sunday morning!” She went on to say that she was “especially encouraged by the younger children who created a short video today to help educate their classmates about plastic alternatives. Additionally, I am so excited that there is an actual edible spoon now available in Cayman. It tastes great and hope that the ice cream shops start making the switch.”

Dr. Iulia Irimis, from Royale Medical & Wellness Center thought that the event was “a huge success.” Adding, “Although it was depressing to see so much trash on the beach, it felt good to know that we were making a difference.”

Co-leader of Protect Our Future, Nic Corin said, “today was heart-warming. It is great to see our community connecting and working together.” Just days after the climate march, “this has been the biggest clean up in the new year and we hope that these efforts show government that our community wants to see change in the way that we treat our environment.”

PFC was joined again by regular volunteer, videographer and founder of ‘The Naughty Nomad,” Jon Schutte. Whose images continue to educate our community on the need to refuse single use plastic, make sustainable lifestyle choices and the importance of community cleanup events.

Although much of the trash was in fact plastic washed onto the shore, it is clear that local litter is still a big problem. Barkers continues to house several illegal dumping sites. PFC would like to see more enforcement of the current litter law.

Plastic Free Cayman thanks their continuous supporters: Island Supply, AL Thompson, Radio Cayman, Kiss FM, DEH and STOAK’D. PFC is always open to suggested locations and community input for future clean ups. Please contact [email protected] for all inquiries and suggestions.