A volunteer collects plastic bottles at this year’s International
Coastal Cleanup Day
A
s the organization with responsibility for improving and maintaining a high standard tourism
product,
the
Tourism
Product
Development
Company
Limited
(TPDCo)
supports
the
move by the government to ban plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam.
The organization has witnessed the environmental impact of plastic and styrofoam items, and its
potential threat to erode the country’s natural resources and beauty. As stewards of the environment,
TPDCo welcomes this effort and the positive shift to protect our environment with a view towards
sustainability. The organization is pleased that the Government of Jamaica is now on par with global trends
to preserve the earth’s resources, which by extension will improve the health and wellbeing of its citizens.
TPDCo is well aware of the need to eliminate potentially harmful consequences of plastic ending
up in our waters and polluting our public spaces. To add its voice to the message of keeping
the environment clean, the organization recently participated in the International Coastal
Cleanup Day, to which its sister agency, the Tourism Enhancement Fund injected 10 million dollars.
Other initiatives such as recycling competitions have received support by the organization to educate
our citizens about the importance of keeping our environs clean. TPDCo has even reached out
to a younger target audience by producing a comic series “The Adventures of Sprucey and
Limey” which features stories about littering, and sensitizes our primary level students about
the impact of such practices, on not only our tourism sector, but the island and its people.
The tourism sector depends on a clean environment for it to see any growth and expansion.
Visitors are naturally attracted to a destination with clean surroundings, which sends the
message that the country cares significantly about the health and safety of those who decide to
share in the Jamaican experience. TPDCo looks forward to the steps that will be taken over the next
few months as Jamaica prepares to join other nations in their quest to protect the environment.