TOP partners with IDC to put on large-scale clean-up of Seychelles outer islands
From the 18th to the 31st March, 40 participants consisting 20 TOP surveyors, embarked on a journey of a lifetime to one of thirteen outer islands of Seychelles, for the first large-scale clean-up of these islands organised by the Islands Development Company (IDC). TOP was invited by IDC to come on board as a partner for the clean-up, dubbed the Seychelles Outer Islands Clean-Up, to lead marine litter assessments on the outer islands, in a bid to learn as much as possible about the quantity, composition and potential origin of litter stranded on the shorelines of Alphonse, Astove, Coetivy, Desroches, Poivre, Platte, Remire, and islands in St Francois Atoll and Farquhar Atoll.
The bittersweet experience culminated in an awards ceremony held by IDC on Tuesday 14th May. The awards ceremony was the occasion to thank all organisers, volunteers and partners for the hard work, time and energy invested in the Seychelles Outer Islands Clean-Up.
IDC chief executive Mr Glenny Savy, and our co-founder Zara Pardiwalla highlighted the urgent need to continue tackling plastic pollution and the general mismanagement of waste at the event held at Savoy Resort. It was also an opportunity for participants' to speak of their personal experience on the islands and voice out their strong concern on the environmental and human impact of plastic pollution. Presenting at the ceremony, Rosetta Alcindor, stressed that the importance of becoming more conscious of our consumption habits and the impacts of single-use plastic products.
The awards ceremony was also the opportunity to present some of our findings from the clean-up including the total weight of litter collected across the islands over 3-7 days (at 10,627kg), the main composition of the litter and potential points of origin based on recorded barcodes/ labels. The full report from the clean-up will be published on our website.
Volunteers received a big round of applause as they walked up the podium to collect their award from the guest of honor, President Danny Faure. In addition to a trophy and thank-you letter, some of the volunteers also won vouchers to go to Silhouette and Desroches in a lucky draw, thanks to IDC!
TOP would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the realisation of this project! Marine plastic pollution is such a huge issue that no one can solve on their own which is why we’re so excited about the partnership forged with IDC and its potential. Watch this space for our next project with IDC!
