After being dormant for months, The San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) is reviving their clean-up campaign. Their aim is to rid the island of excess garbage while targeting areas prone to flooding and serving as breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying vector diseases. The project branches out from the ‘Child Friendly Municipalities of Belize,’ which is backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Since the launch of the campaign in June of 2016, the San Pedrito and Elliot/Airstrip subdivisions were the first ones to benefit from the program. According to Jorge Aldana at the SPTC, the project met an abrupt halt after the devastation of Hurricane Earl in August of last year. “Our energies were re-focused and we side-tracked a bit as we assisted the many victims in the natural disaster,” said Aldana. “However, our intentions and mandate for this year is to re-engage our stakeholders and continue the clean-up campaign.”
Aldana expects that if everything goes well in the organization with their different partners in the project, they hope to start the clean-up campaign in the second half of February or the beginning of March. He notes that, the San Pedrito and Elliot/Airstrip subdivisions benefited tremendously. “The events of the campaign in those areas were very successful in the sense of cleaning the area and educating people about keeping their surroundings clean,” said Aldana. “We had a work plan to get rid of as much garbage as possible and maintained the area trash free. We had volunteers helping us and that is the same model we hope to engage this time.”
According to Aldana, there are intentions to also involve students and members of the Children Advisory Body (CAB), which were recently elected. The CAB, which is also part of the Child Friendly Municipalities of Belize, aims at making the island a more child friendly community by bringing awareness on topics such as health and community engagement. “The CAB wants to champion this program as an on-going project for them, along with other projects.”
Aldana added that a huge part of the success for the campaign is the participation of the community. He advises residents to refrain from dumping garbage on empty lots and to properly dispose of their trash in the proper place. “We can do a lot of clean-up campaigns, but if people do not get the message, then all the labour and efforts will be in vain,” said Aldana. “We hope to engage everyone as a role player in this initiative so we can see major success this year.”
The next sub-divisions to benefit from the project will be San Pablo and Boca Del Rio.
The SPTC, along with its partners, hope to see successful results at the end of the campaign, while encouraging everyone on the island to continue the initiative on their own. Residents are reminded that they play a key role in keeping San Pedro Town more attractive for residents and visitors alike.
For more information on the clean-up campaign, the SPTC can be reached at 226-2198 or at their offices located at Barrier Reef Drive during normal working hours.
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