Clean Ocean Force clinches Earthly Warrior Award from Suren Cooke Agencies

On Saturday, 10 September, the team at Suren Cooke Agencies was at the Crow Island beach. While a Saturday morning trip to the beach would generally mean relaxation and unwinding, the visit had a greater purpose for the Suren Cooke Agencies team. They went in search of the change-maker Jerome Fernando of Clean Ocean Force (COF) – a man striving hard to keep Sri Lanka’s beaches free of plastic waste.

Jerome is the pick for Suren Cooke Agencies’ Earthly Warrior Award.

An energetic Jerome and his team from COF were already at work, picking up plastic bottles strewn around the beach, and were seen bringing several sacks full of trash to the shore.

The Clean Ocean Force is an organisation founded three years ago, by Jerome and his friend Thorsten Knekties from Germany. The idea for the concept triggered when Jerome and Thorsten were taking a stroll along the beach and they felt disgruntled at having to constantly kick the plastic bottles away from their path as they walked along. It made them ask themselves if these were the pristine beaches that Sri Lanka takes pride in.

As a child, Jerome was greatly interested in the environment as well as in empowering the poor people. He pursued his childhood passion and resolved to change the sad status quo of the beaches, which resulted in initiating Clean Ocean Force.

Today, the organisation operates with a core objective to keep the beaches clean, removing plastic waste and other pollutants, while generating a livelihood avenue for the under-privileged, giving them an opportunity to work as waste-pickers. This clean drive has helped around 200-300 among the poor to earn a living by working as waste-collectors on the beaches in the Western Province.

A unique aspect about Clean Ocean Force is its daily mechanism of cleaning the beaches rather than engaging in it sporadically. It ensures that the selected few polluted beaches in Colombo are cleaned every day for about four hours – in keeping with its founding goal.

Jerome also has ambitious plans to expand the footprint to cover the whole of the Western Province under the COF umbrella with a bigger dream to eventually cover all the beaches across the country and thereby make Clean Ocean Force the last line of defence in maintaining clean beaches island-wide.

Although COF does not at present engage in recycling the plastics and other waste, the organisation has a mechanism in place to segregate and hand over the waste to those carrying out recycling to ensure that the collected items are not dumped back in landfills. Nevertheless, when the organisation develops its operation and secures sufficient funds, COF intends to set up its own recycling plant.

In carrying out its activities, COF is open to partnerships with local communities, volunteers, influencers as well as the private sector. “We can proudly say that Clean Ocean Force has created a public-private enterprise system that highlights the fact that the private and Government sector can work hand in hand on a long-term basis,” said Jerome.

Jerome insisted that every citizen is duty-bound to dispose of plastic waste in a responsible manner, after usage. “We have all been irresponsible at some time or other which is why these plastics lie on the beaches today. The public has a responsibility towards Mother Earth. We need to leave a clean country for the next generation,” he said calling upon all stakeholders to partner with COF to create a sustainable environment and sustainability in the living conditions of the people.

“People can help us in many ways. They can come to the cleanup sessions on holidays or during weekdays. They can donate in various forms and means. The corporate sector can join hands with Clean Ocean Force making it their CSR,” said Jerome.

“Plastic producers and businesses that are into packaging have a bigger responsibility to take into account the cost to the environment and recycle the plastic they put out,” he added. He commended Suren Cooke Agencies for sharing the same passion in respect of environmental sustainability.

Citing SCA’s recycling plant, which turns used plastics into raw material used for manufacturing the bait stations for rodent control, Jerome said that, as a pest management firm, Suren Cooke Agencies maintaining their own recycling plant proves their exemplary commitment to protect the environment.

Clean Ocean Force being accorded the Earthly Warrior Award by Suren Cooke Agencies would serve as a motivation to continue the long journey that the organisation is spearheading with a message that every citizen needs to be ‘a part of the solution and not part of the pollution,’ Jerome said.