Kingston Harbour cleanup project reports 5 million kilograms of waste intercepted

The Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project has prevented more than 5 million kilograms of garbage from entering the harbour and wider Caribbean Sea, presenters said at the 2026 Grace Kennedy Public Lecture on June 5.

Caroline Mafood outlined how private-sector and community partnerships have helped keep the project running. Support has included vehicles from Kia through its Ocean Cleanup partnership and ATL Motors, property access and roofing assistance from Spectrum Roofing, a Digicel Foundation grant for the offloading site visitor centre, and repeated beach-cleanup support from VM Foundation. Mafood also credited MDK Consulting and Grace Kennedy for strategic, financial, legal, customs, human resources, risk and compliance support.

Community engagement, she said, has been central to the work. The project has 12 environmental wardens from communities near polluted gullies, has staged 27 beach cleanups since 2022, drawn more than 4,000 volunteers, engaged more than 3,500 young people, and hosted outreach involving 28 private-sector companies and 30 government agencies. Some community members are now separating plastics for sale to RPG.

Clean Harbors Jamaica Limited managing director Michael McCarthy said the operation uses interceptor barriers, the interceptor tender, the Guardian One vessel, interceptor guards and excavators to trap, collect and remove waste. Of 11 targeted gullies, nine barriers have already been deployed, with a tenth pending. He said local conditions forced constant redesign, including stronger systems at Kingston Pen, extra barriers at Mountain View, and 16-ton anchors and heavy marine chains for Sandy Gully, which he described as the project’s toughest site.

McCarthy said verified figures show more than 5 million kilograms, or about 12 million pounds, of waste intercepted. He said the volume remains high, with items ranging from fridges and washing machines to furniture and vehicles turning up in gullies.

Professor Mona Weber said Kingston Harbour once had more than 1,000 hectares of seagrass, about 900 hectares of mangroves and cleaner water, but research since the 1960s has documented sewage, industrial pollution, solid waste and declining mangrove health. She said Refuge Key shows recovery is possible after plastic removal and improved water flow, though full regeneration takes years.

Weber said new environmental DNA research, funded by the Ocean Cleanup, is helping scientists measure biodiversity, pollution indicators and seasonal change at sites including Refuge Key, Fort Rocky Lagoon, Gunboat Beach and the Palisadoes restoration area. The speakers said Jamaica now needs stronger upstream waste systems, continued science, wider partnerships and national ownership of the harbour’s recovery.