IOJ’s 2018 Earth Day Competition- “From Trash to Cash”

The Natural History Museum of Jamaica (NHMJ) and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) hosted their annual Earth Day Commemoration Ceremony on Friday April 27, 2018. Highway 2000 East-West, continues to sponsor this initiative as it seeks to highlight the importance of the protection and sustainability efforts to ensure the preservation of Earth’s, past, present and future through the eyes of our youth. International Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year.

The competition included youths from various secondary schools, churches, clubs and organized youth groups. The aim of the competition was to get the interpretation of the theme for this year’s Earth Day, “From Trash to Cash”, from our young people, through Art. Participants submitted posters, literary pieces, that included poems, short stories and essays, and a new addition, segment, design model, all capturing this year’s theme.

The guest speaker, Dr Therese Chambers, Head of School Engineering and Computing at the University of Technology, Jamaica gave an informative presentation on the various types of “trash” that we can use to gain cash here in Jamaica and just how beneficial an enterprise exist that is ripe with opportunities for us Jamaicans to take advantage. Dr Chambers mentioned, recycling of plastic, used tyres and the repurposing of the existing dumps on our island for reusable energy as money generating use of our trash. She went further to highlight the exportation of scrape metal among other household waste that can be converted to income that can help individuals and facilitate growth and development of the country. The attendees were urged to minimize their waste, by practising, the reduce, reuse and recycling approach in their businesses and their day-to-day lives. The presentation also looked at, how we can be better citizens, and how we should always endeavour to protect our environment, through proper waste management and conservation of our natural resources, whilst deriving economic benefits now and remain sustainable for the future.

Biodiversity Awareness Project -Vegetable Gardens in Schools, Clarendon and St. Catherine

Our Biodiversity Awareness project, a partnership with the Natural History Museum of Jamaica (NHMJ) and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), continues to fulfil its mandate effectively. The Biodiversity Centre at Chandler’s Pen Primary and Junior High School remains the focal point for any biodiversity and general environmental -related activities undertaken by the programme. However, we have extended to four additional schools via the implementation of vegetable gardens. The installation of the Vegetable Garden in school, element of our Biodiversity programme, started in 2017 with Chandler’s Pen Primary, Freetown and Independence City Primary.

All three schools have since been successful in achieving their specific objective and we will continue to strive in improving their emphasis as follows:

•  Chandler’s Pen Primary and Junior High- Ornamental Gardening, an aesthetic expression of beauty through art and nature, (reduce, reuse and recycle).
•  Free Town Primary – Backyard Gardening and waste management (composting etc.)

NHMJ in partnership with Highway 2000 East-West handed over two vegetable gardens to Rosewell Primary and Moore’s Primary and Infant Schools in Clarendon, located within the Highway 2000 East-West vicinity on Wednesday, April 25,2018. In attendance, we had the Principals of both schools, Ms. Paulette Douglas and Mrs. Wendy McKoy from Rosewell and Moore’s Primary respectively.

We had greetings from the Executive Director of IOJ, Mr. Vivian Crawford and his contingency from the NHMJ, Managing Director, Mr Guillaume Allain and his team from Highway 2000 East-West, Mrs. Jeneive Williams, Education Officer, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, and Mrs. Carlene Benjamin Councillor, Palmer’s Cross Division, South Eastern Clarendon. The consensus was great appreciation for the new partnerships with the schools, IOJ, and Highway 2000 East-West and commitments to work closely to ensure sustainability of this vegetable garden project. The schools in Rosewell and Moore’s were also gifted with tools such as machetes, wheel barrows, and shovels by Highway 2000 East-West along with a vegetable garden workbook published by NHMJ.

The objectives of the project are for the students to become more aware of nature and the role humans play in its conservation and to develop an appreciation of farming. In relation to the two-new schools, emphasis will be placed as follows:

•  Rosewell Primary -the emphasis is placed on organic gardening, matching vegetables that will be able to survive the condition of the stone soil.
•  Moore’s Primary - the emphasis of our program will be on rain water harvesting and planting crops that may require minimal water dependency.

The project is sponsored by Trans Jamaican Highway and administered by JIO, and we appreciate the partnership with the Natural History Museum of Jamaica (NHMJ) and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ). It has enabled us to participate in many of their associate activities and help us to forge relationships with the communities in which we operate.

Sustainable Development are programmes designed to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Reference is made to the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of Sustainable Development as economic development, social development and environmental protection. As part of a high profile project in Jamaica, the Highway 2000 East-West, Jamaican Infrastructure Operator Ltd has decided to be committed to sustainable development. 

We continue to offer new ideas, new concepts and international best practices, that help our employees to grow and have a brighter future. We also need to have a respectful approach towards the environment. Offering employment opportunities to boost the dignity of citizens living in communities along the highway corridor is also layout of the road also paramount.

In Jamaica, this approach is gradually becoming mainstream and environmentally friendly solutions are now of great concern. We have decided to focus on: Economic, Social and Environmental aspects.