‘Clean Up the World’ campaign ends-Pointe Larue voted cleanest district |08 October 2012

The names of the winners were revealed during a ceremony at the Roche Caïman district administration on Friday afternoon when prizes were given out to the cleanest district, cleanest bin sites, and beautification of the town and town outskirts.

Environment and Energy Minister Professor Rolph Payet and his principal secretary Wills Agricole attended the ceremony.

This is the third year that the competition takes place and it is organised to reward districts that have made the most effort to keep their community clean.

This year, zone landscaping has made its way into the contest, where landscape contractors are being encouraged to compete in beautifying their designated areas.

The prize for the cleanest bin site was won by Jean-Paul Boniface, whose bin site at Baie Lazare received top marks. The beautification award – which is given for the contractors in charge of beautifying the Victoria, Providence highway, Airport area, Roche Caïman and Ile Perseverance – was won by Simon Emmanuel.

In addressing the guests at the ceremony, Minister Payet said if today we have a clean and beautiful country, it is thanks to those who have the noble job of keeping it clean.

“Cleanliness and good waste management are key to the health and prosperity of a nation. If today Seychelles is considered as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, surely the cleanliness of our islands has played a role in that,” he said.

“Of course there is always room for improvement and together we need to make a bigger effort to keep Seychelles even more clean.”

He added that he is proud to note that in the past, women were employed to clean the districts, but today it is those same women who are now small contractors and are performing very well.

Friday’s event also served to mark the closing of this year’s ‘Clean Up the World’ campaign.
Seychelles has been actively taking part in this event since 1994, and the Landscape and Waste Management Agency said this has been another successful year, and people are growing more aware of how to manage waste.

The chairman of the organising committee Barry Joseph said this year they also identified illegal dumping sites to clean, and did tree-planting activities.

“For the first time in the history of the event, the campaign was launched on Praslin, and feedback from the residents is a positive one, with much appreciation for the initiative,” he said.

“Our biggest challenge is people who do not use bins and dump litter illegally in their communities. We are appealing to those people to cease this and to use bins responsibly,” said Mr Joseph.

After the ceremony, guests viewed a small exhibition mounted by some students.