Rhona Hewit, owner of Rhona’s at the Beach, started the initiative two weeks ago ahead of the summer season for the purpose of keeping Jersey’s ‘beautiful beaches’ clean.
Mrs Hewit said: ‘I got the idea from a friend who sent me a Facebook post a few weeks ago about a beach café somewhere outside of Jersey that was giving out free hot drinks to people who handed in a bucket of rubbish they collected from the beach.
‘I saw someone else say online that they wished more businesses in Jersey would start a similar initiative, so I decided to announce on Facebook that I would do it.’
Following that, Sign Solutions – a local sign-making company – spotted Mrs Hewit’s post and offered to donate a ‘Keep Jersey Clean’ sign for free that included the instructions on what to do.
‘We received the sign on Friday just gone and the very next morning we had families approach us who wanted to get involved.
‘I think it is especially important for families with young children to get involved because if you teach children when they are young that it is unacceptable to throw litter on the beach, then hopefully that is how things will improve in the future.’
Mrs Hewit, who is originally from Scotland, opened her beach café 13-years-ago and said she would strongly encourage other small businesses to do the same as her to save Jersey’s beaches.
She said: ‘I know Café Des Pas are doing the same as me, but apart from that I haven’t heard of anyone else doing it on the Island. If everyone did something similar and took an interest, we would be able to keep our beautiful beaches clean.’
The campaign has received attention from as far afield as Australia, with one Ozzie praising Mrs Hewit’s campaign online by saying they wished that Australian beach café’s would follow Jersey’s lead.
