HMS Lancaster crew take part in Seychelles beach clean-up

The vest the crew members wore were made out of recycled PET bottles. (Seychelles News Agency)

Crew members of the UK Royal Navy vessel, HMS Lancaster, which is visiting Seychelles, joined the environmental organisation, Parley for the Oceans, to clean up the Northeast Point beach on Thursday.

This is part of a series of activities the vessel's crew members are doing in Seychelles during their visit. The British High Commission's representative, Josette Larue, explained that the activities were being held to incorporate the crew members while they are in the country.

She said that Northeast Point beach was chosen "to facilitate logistics, as it was not far from where the vessel is berthed."

Participating in the event was Jessica Lawen from Parley Seychelles, who told reporters that her organisation is not only environmental but also has links with the fashion industry.

"The vests the crew members are wearing as well as the gloves they are using are made out of recycled PET bottles," she said.

The crew members paired up in two's and combed the stretch of the beach to pick up all non-bio-degradable items – which they put in gunny bags.

Lawen said, "We are re-using the gunny bags that we buy locally, all in the aim of reducing the amount of waste we produce."

She explained that since Seychelles does not have the facilities to carry out the recycling process, the waste collected will be weighed to keep records updated.

"We have had many organisations who contact us to hold clean-up exercises, and most of the time this is done as a team building exercise," said Lawen.

The other activities being done by the crew member of HMS Lancaster include a handover of UK-funded dog harnesses to the Seychelles Defence Forces at Port Victoria. They will also host a reception onboard the ship on Wednesday evening.

HMS Lancaster visited Port Victoria in May earlier this year, and at that time the clean-up activity was held at Takamaka.