The Sint Maarten Nature Foundation teamed up with Passengers from Princess Cruise Lines, Fathom Travel and Carib Resorts in cleaning trash, single-use plastics and even hurricane debris from Mullet Bay Beach on Wednesday morning. Some 35 passengers removed 728.13 pounds of trash from the beach, using the Trash Tracker method developed by Ocean Cleanup Organization 4Oceans by weighing all the collected trash and using reusable bags and gloves.
The activity was a part of the Fathom and Princess Cruises Cruise for the Caribbean and it is the third time passengers from a cruise ship to Sint Maarten have participated in an impactful environmental activity with the Nature Foundation. During the cleanup the passengers also learned about several Nature Foundation projects, such as the ‘Reduce & Reuse St Maarten’ project which is designed to decrease the amount of single-use plastics on St Maarten. Single-use plastics impact our environment tremendously, never biodegrade and are easily substituted by biodegradable and reusable products.
“We were very pleased to have these environmental conscience guests to take time out of their holiday to clean our beaches. We are grateful for their positive attitude about decreasing single-use plastics and their pledge to assist in keeping our natural environments clean. We are looking forward into more sustainable tourism, a single-use plastic ban on St Maarten could really facilitate St Maarten as an eco-touristic destination and will help to protect our natural environment for the future generations,” read a Nature Foundation statement.