CSR – kftl

The Port of Kingston coastline recently received a major clean up thanks to the efforts of over 100 volunteers from Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) alongside partners, Rainforest Seafoods and VIP Attractions. The clean up was conducted on International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day on Saturday, September 21, 2019.

The clean up took place at the section located on the southwestern boundary of KFTL. The area, known to staff as KFTL Beach, receives copious amounts of garbage primarily from the Rio Cobre and has been the focus of several smaller cleanups in 2019. During the ICC Day cleanup, the team collected over 126 bags of plastic bottles, as well as other garbage including styrofoam pieces, bottles caps and two refrigerators.

The theme for ICC 2019 was Big Up Wi Beach JA. ICC has been coordinated globally by the Ocean Conservancy since 1985 and locally by the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) since 2008. ICC is the largest one-day volunteer event in the world and takes place on the third Saturday in September annually. This is the third year KFTL has participated in the event, in keeping with its commitment to environmental sustainability and as part of its wider Corporate Sustainability thrust.

In 2018, Jamaica ranked as the 17th largest ICC event in the world. Over 9,300 Jamaicans cleaned up over 100,000 pounds of garbage from 150 sites. In 2019, the aim is to have Jamaica rank in the global top 10 with over 10,000 volunteers expected to participate in ICC clean up activities.

In addition to sponsoring several beach clean up events, KFTL’s environmental stewardship extends to the Kingston Harbour. In 2018 the company sponsored a project in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Marine Sciences and the Port Royal Marine Laboratory which resulted in the removal of over 8,299 bags of garbage, comprising mainly plastics, from the Refuge Cay mangroves in Kingston. KFTL also sponsors the ‘Port Royal Cays Coral Reef Rehabilitation’ project, which began in 2018, the International Year of the Reef and includes the design, installation and monitoring of artificial coral reef structures on the Port Royal Cays over a five-year period.

One year after the launch of its environmental campaign, KFTL Go Blue, under the theme “Recycling Begins with you,” Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) is pleased to report that through its various initiatives, close to 300,000 plastic bottles were collected and sent for recycling.

The KFTL Go Blue initiative falls under the company’s Environment and Social Management System (ESMS) aimed at reducing any potential negative impact of its operations on its stakeholders and surrounding environment. The initiative was launched on World Environment Day (June 5) 2018 and features various initiatives to improve waste management, energy and resource conservation.

At the end of 2018, KFTL had separated over 105,000 plastic bottles for recycling. During the first five months of 2019, KFTL separated almost 183,000 plastic bottles, 145,000 of which were collected as part of its participation in the Wisynco Eco Corporate Challenge. KFTL has partnered with the Recycling Partners of Jamaica to collect the separated bottles.

To help facilitate the separation of waste streams by staff and stakeholders, KFTL placed colour-coded bins in various locations across the terminal. Additionally, the company launched its KFTL Recycling School Tour, during which representatives visited several schools near the port, held recycling sensitization sessions and donated recycling bins.

KFTL’s environmental stewardship also extends to the Kingston Harbour, as in 2018, the company sponsored a project in partnership with University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Marine Sciences and the Port Royal Marine Laboratory, which saw over 8,299 bags of garbage, comprising mainly plastics, removed from the Refuge Cay mangroves in Kingston.

Furthermore, KFTL is the sponsor of the ‘Port Royal Cays Coral Reef Rehabilitation’ project, which commenced in 2018, the International Year of the Reef. This five-year project features the design, installation and monitoring of artificial coral reef structures on the Port Royal Cays.

With the government’s recent introduction of a ban on plastic bags and straws, Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) is reporting that it has recycled over 100,000 plastic bottles in over seven months, since the launch of its environmental initiative, “KFTL Go Blue.”

Since June 2018, KFTL has separated and sent for recycling approximately 105,570 plastic bottles and 656lbs of cardboard. The facility, which employs some 1200 workers, has also discontinued the use of single-use plastic straws and has substituted styrofoam food-ware with biodegradable containers at its canteen facility.

“This was possible through the collective efforts of KFTL staff and partners,” noted Christopher Gayle, Environmental Specialist at KFTL. “We look forward to continued support in 2019, when we will seek to increase productivity while reducing the environmental impact of our operations through the implementation of additional initiatives,” he said.

The campaign, which was launched on World Environment Day (June 5, 2018), features various initiatives to improve waste management, energy and resource conservation at the facility. This includes placing colour-coded bins in strategic locations across the terminal to facilitate separation of waste streams by staff and stakeholders. The separated waste is then collected by KFTL’s designated contractor, Recycling Partners of Jamaica.

The New Causeway Fishing Complex on Dyke Road in Portmore, St. Catherine, was the beneficiary of Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited’s (KFTL) cleanup efforts during International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day on September 15, 2018.

The cleanup was executed by over 86 KFTL staff as well as volunteers from the Rotary Club of Spanish Town and fisherfolk from the New Causeway Fishing Village.

Over 150 bags of garbage were collected during the activity and from that amount, 87 bags totaling 657lbs or approximately 20,000 plastic bottles were separated and handed over to the Recycling Partners of Jamaica following the cleanup.

The ICC Day partnership with the New Causeway Fishing Village is in direct alignment with KFTL’s continued support to near port communities and forms part of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme.

In addition to cleaning up the fishing beach, KFTL volunteers also gathered data on the garbage collected which will be used by the Ocean Conservancy and Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) to educate and advocate for improved waste management practices and policies.

This is the second year in which KFTL has joined in the ICC activities, organizing and sponsoring its own cleanup efforts at the selected location and helping to raise awareness about waste and its impact on the environment.

KFTL, earlier this year, also launched an environmental campaign at its facility, which features various initiatives to improve waste management, energy and resource conservation. These include a recycling campaign KFTL has discontinued the supply of single-use plastic straws at its canteen facility and is advancing plans to replace styrofoam food-ware with bio-degradable containers.

ICC Day, which takes place on the third Saturday in September every year, is the largest one-day volunteer event in the world and has been coordinated globally by the Ocean Conservancy since 1985 and locally by JET since 2008.

As the world continues to observe “Plastic Free July,” Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) is reporting that in just six weeks since the launch of its environmental initiative, “KFTL Go Blue: Recycling Begins with you,” approximately 30,000 plastic bottles (or 970 lbs) have been separated for recycling by its over 1000 employees.

The campaign, which was launched on World Environment Day (June 5), features various initiatives to improve waste management, energy and resource conservation at the facility. This includes placing colour-coded bins in strategic locations across the terminal to facilitate separation of waste streams by staff and stakeholders. The separated waste is then collected by KFTL’s designated contractor, Recycling Partners of Jamaica.

“The support has been remarkable so far from both staff and stakeholders,” noted Christopher Gayle, Environmental Specialist at KFTL. “We are cognizant of the fact that waste separation practices are part of an overall behavioural change which is necessary for us to see real impact, so we will continue to raise awareness so that the efforts are seen not just on the port but also in our wider communities,” he added.

The major objective of the KFTL Go Blue initiative is to reduce the environmental footprint of KFTL’s operations through energy/resource conservation and recycling/ solid waste management.

In addition, KFTL has discontinued the supply of single-use plastic straws at its canteen facility and is progressing with plans to replace styrofoam food-ware with bio-degradable containers.

The Recycling Partners of Jamaica reported that between March 2014 and March 2017, it collected over 3.3 million pounds of plastic – or over 100 million plastic bottles – from the environment in Jamaica.

As millions across the globe observed World Earth Day on April 22nd under the theme “End Plastic Pollution,” Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) is reporting the removal of 8,299 bags of garbage, comprising mainly plastics, from the Refuge Cay mangroves in Kingston. This effort was the first phase of a cleanup and rehabilitation project sponsored by KFTL and executed by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Marine Sciences and the Port Royal Marine Laboratory. The cleaning started on January 8th 2018 and lasted 6 weeks.

In addition to the bags of garbage, other items cleared included 30 refrigerators, 13 cooking gas cylinders, five washing machines and over 50 tyres. Miscellaneous items such as car bumpers, crates, buckets, a scuba tank, nets, fishing lines and other small appliances were also removed.

The second phase of the project, the installation of barriers to prevent further garbage buildup on the Cay, was completed on March 23rd 2018. The third phase, which involves fisher folk removing garbage built up in the barriers on a monthly basis, commenced in April 2018; while the fourth phase, the replanting of mangrove saplings, is slated to begin in May 2018.

Following on these gains, KFTL has also commenced initiatives at its facility to help end plastic pollution. These include removing single-use plastic straws from its canteen and embarking on a recycling campaign, which will encourage staff to separate various waste streams, including plastic. Moreover, plans have been initiated to replace the company’s supply of styrofoam containers with bio-degradable alternatives.

Locally, the Recycling Partners of Jamaica reported that between March 2014 and March 2017, it recovered over 3.3 million pounds of plastics – or over 100 million bottles – from the environment in Jamaica. Meanwhile, according to the Earth Day Network, the organization that leads Earth Day observations worldwide, over 300 million tons of plastic are sold globally each year, 90% of which is thrown away.

In February, over 60 students and teachers from two schools in the corporate area received an opportunity to learn about the importance of the biodiversity within the Kingston Harbour through a tour and field lecture at Refuge Cay and the University of the West Indies (UWI) Port Royal Marine Lab. The activity, which was sponsored by the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) was carried out in partnership with UWI’s Centre for Marine Sciences.
The educational activity, which was held on February 2, in observance of World Wetlands Day 2018, under the theme, “Wetlands for a sustainable urban future,” also served to highlight some of the work being done to preserve wetlands in the Kingston Harbour. This includes the ‘Restoration and Cleanup of Refuge Cay Mangroves’ project, which is also being sponsored by KFTL and implemented in collaboration with UWI’s Port Royal Marine Lab and involves clean-up and re-planting activities at Refuge Cay.
Eleven year old, Zion Dowie, from Port Royal Primary school was elated to participate in the Refuge Cay tour. “It was an amazing experience to learn about the mangroves and I love how the workers are helping to get it cleaned. I want to encourage people to stop throwing garbage into the sea and into gullies and to throw them in garbage bags instead,” pleaded Dowie.

Moyen Campbell, Guidance Counsellor at the Harbour View Primary school and who was one of the teachers who accompanied the students, noted that “they were very receptive of the information and we will ensure they share with others at their school, the lessons learned about the importance of keeping their surroundings clean.”

The World Wetlands Day tour for students and the ‘Refuge Cay Mangroves Restoration and Cleanup’ project, are among several community outreach activities which KFTL sponsors as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. KFTL has also sponsored another project which will benefit the Kingston Harbour – the ‘Port Royal Cays Coral Reef Rehabilitation,’ which will be implemented over a five year period and will feature the design, installation and monitoring of artificial reef structures on the Port Royal Barrier Reef.

CMA CGM subsidiary in Jamaica, the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) has once again displayed its environmental stewardship by sponsoring two projects that will improve the fisheries resource of the Kingston Harbour. The projects, the ‘Refuge Cay Mangrove Cleanup and Restoration’ and the ‘Port Royal Cays Coral Reef Rehabilitation,’ are being implemented in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Marine Sciences and the Port Royal Marine Laboratory.

Over 4,200 bags of garbage were collected over four weeks as part of the ‘Refuge Cay Mangrove Restoration’ project, since the cleaning began on January 8, 2018. Following the removal of the heavy build-up of solid waste from Refuge Cay, mangrove seedlings will be planted and garbage barriers installed to prevent further garbage build up. Any further garbage that gathers in the barriers will also be regularly removed and disposed.

In Jamaica, the Refuge Cay is home to numerous species of birds and also serves as a nursery area and feeding ground for a variety of fish species. Over the years, a large quantity of garbage accumulated on the cay which limited the flushing of sea water through the mangroves. Consequently, the cay became hypersaline causing a “dead zone” to develop at its centre. Since the cay has never been cleaned, this project is of major significance and is intended to be a catalyst for similar initiatives.

According to Professor of Marine Biology, Mona Webber, PhD., who is also Director at the Centre for Marine Sciences at UWI, “mangroves are natural filters cleaning our waters, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (helping to mitigate climate change) and they support birds and other wild life. It is therefore a tremendous partnership between KFTL, UWI and the men and women of Port Royal and Kingston Harbour who are trying to save an area on which we all depend.”

KFTL and UWI have also partnered on another project, the Port Royal Cays Coral Reef Rehabilitation, which will be implemented over a five year period and will feature the design, installation and monitoring of artificial reef structures on the Port Royal Barrier Reef. Preliminary diving visits have already been conducted.

According to Chanelle Fingal Robinson, PhD., Social Impact Specialist at KFTL, “both projects will not only benefit the environment but also financially benefit the Kingston Harbour fisherfolk through potentially creating alternative livelihoods such as ecotourism.” For the Refuge Cay project, for instance, over 20 persons from the Port Royal community, most of whom are fisherfolk, have been contracted to clean the area.

These two initiatives form part of KFTL’s wider Corporate Social Responsibility efforts and are aimed at enhancing the quality of the Kingston Harbour, which is the 7^th largest natural harbour in the world.

CSR /

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KFTL Recycles 30,000 Plastic Bottles in Six Weeks

Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited joins efforts to end plastic pollution

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KFTL Sponsors Kingston Harbour Projects

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