IN keeping with the worldwide trend towards environmental awareness in tourist resorts, Negril on Thursday launched their $4.5-million ‘Greening of Negril Solid Waste Management and Recycling Programme’.

“Most destinations are going green and we are trying to race ahead,” president of the Negril Chamber of Commerce, Cliff Reynolds told the Observer before the launch.

Negril has a track record of tackling environmental issues head on but according to Reynolds this latest initiative was spawned out of a meeting last year between community members and the Coastal Water Quality Improvement Project (CWIP).

According to chairman of the project’s steering committee, Daniel Grizzle, CWIP provided $3 million to fund the project, while the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) supplied an additional $1.5 million.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also provided technical assistance to CWIP.

The project is geared towards putting in place an effective garbage collection system and a recycling centre that would reduce the bulk of the waste material sent to the disposal site.

Plans are also underway to conduct an education campaign in schools, beautify selected public areas and develop environmental ethic/culture within communities.

To accomplish one aspect of the project, a recycling plant is slated to be constructed at Whitehall within a few weeks.

“Recycling should begin by the end of December,” Reynolds said. “We’ll be doing glass, cardboard and waste oil.”

He added that the glass collected from hotels and residents would be shipped to Barbados via a glass company in Kingston, the cardboard collected from mostly supermarkets will be turned into recycled paper, while the oil collected from boats and motorcars would be reused by the Frome Sugar Factory.