VI Clean Coasts
VI Clean Coasts helps businesses, schools, residents, and marinas in the USVI improve their impact on the environment.
The VI Clean Coasts Initiatives are FREE to USVI businesses, schools, and residents!
VI Clean Coasts consists of 4 initiatives:
Eco-Certification
Open to any business in the USVI
The Eco-Certification program helps businesses of the USVI improve their environmental footprint.
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Refill Bottles,
Not Dumpsters
Open to anyschool or educational program in the USVI
The Refill Bottles, Not Dumpsters Program provides schools with filtered, cold drinking water and reusable bottles for each student.
Read More Residential Erosion Control
Open to any homeowner in the USVI
The Residential Erosion Control program helps homeowners in the USVI assess and manage erosion and stormwater on their property.
Clear Waters
Open to coastal businesses and organizations
The VI Clean Coasts Clear Waters Initiative will help marinas and coastal businesses and organizations obtain clear waters.
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Eco-Certification
The VI Clean Coasts Eco-Certification Initiative helps
businesses of the USVI improve their environmental
footprint. Do you own a business in the USVI?
Do you want to institute eco-friendly practices into your business, but are unsure how to do it or how much it will cost?
Want to show your clients/guests that you are eco-certified?
The Eco-Certification Initiative can help by developing ways to make your business more eco-friendly AND providing seed FUNDING to implement recommended changes. See the list here.
Some ways that VI Clean Coasts has helped businesses become more green:
Composting | Metal Recycling | Water Efficiency & Energy Reduction | Single-Use Plastic Removal | Sustainable Seafood
Chemical & Pollution Reduction | Erosion & Wastewater Management
How Eco Certification Works
1. Provide your business information in the form below. 2. Eliminate expanded polystyrene (aka styrofoam) entirely from your business. 3. The VI Clean Coasts Team will help you conduct an impact survey of your business. 4. The VI Clean Coasts Team will share best practices and develop a custom program with recommended ways to make your business more eco-friendly. 5. Joining the Eco-Certification Initiative makes you eligible for seed FUNDING to implement the changes. Why does the Eco-Certification Initiative target single-use plastics? Single use plastics are detrimental to the environment and human health, impacting every part of the ocean food chain and human consumption. The VI Clean Coasts program encourages businesses to take a proactive approach to “greening” their practices by offering Eco-Certification and seed funding to incentivize the implementation of changes leading to the elimination of single-use plastics and other measures to make businesses more eco-friendly.Join the Eco-Certification
Business Initiative
Business owners are encouraged to register for the
FREE Eco-Certification Program through the VI Clean Coasts interest form.
Sign up to learn more about the Eco-Certification Initiative
Please note, the initial requirement for eco-certification is the removal of all expanded polystyrene (aka styrofoam) from your business. From there a custom program will be developed for each business to begin your eco-journey.
Refill Bottles, Not Dumpsters
The VI Clean Coasts Refill Bottles, Not Dumpsters Initiative helps schools and students by providing filtered, cold drinking water and reusable bottles for each student. Refill Bottles, Not Dumpsters was created based on the need to eliminate single use plastic bottles and provide drinking water that has been filtered of lead, chlorine, and other impurities. Many of our schools don’t have consistent access to clean drinking water and students are being asked to bring two single use plastic water bottles to school, per day! For example, a school like Lockhart Elementary on St. Thomas will have approximately 800 students, which equates to 1,600 single use plastic bottles that could be tossed into our overtasked landfill a day, or worse be released into the marine environment. This initiative works with schools and educational programs in the Virgin Islands to purchase and install filtered bottle fill stations as well as provide reusable water bottles to students and staff.For More Information, Please contact the Program Coordinator: Adrienne King at [email protected]
Residential Erosion Control
Residential Erosion Control
The VI Clean Coasts Residential Erosion Control Initiative helps homeowners in the USVI manage erosion and stormwater on their property. Do you own residential property in the USVI? Are you experiencing erosion or flooding on your land? Would you like professional help to determine how to improve erosion and stormwater runoff concerns on your property? The Residential Erosion Control Initiative can help by providing homeowners with FREE professional assessments, suggestions, and concept designs to manage stormwater and erosion on residential property. How the Residential Erosion Control Initiative works: 1. Provide your information in the link below. 2. The VI Clean Coasts team will contact you to schedule a visit to your home and do an assessment of runoff and erosion on your property. 3. The VI Clean Coasts team will provide recommendations and a concept design on how to manage stormwater and erosion on your property.Why is the Residential Erosion Control Initiative focusing on erosion? Improperly managed stormwater often results in runoff, flooding, and erosion on residential and commercial properties. Eroded sediments and pollutants are carried in stormwater along roads and ghuts into the marine environment, causing harm to valuable coastal habitats, such as coral reefs. This project aims to help homeowners improve stormwater management and reduce
erosion at the source, ultimately reducing harmful sediments and pollutants into the marine environment.
Clear Waters
The VI Clean Coasts Clear Waters Initiative will help marinas and coastal businesses and organizations obtain clear waters. Maintaining high water quality in the USVI is vital for our communities and natural resources. For example, the Clear Waters initiative will help Eco-certified marinas to better serve the boating community with mobile pump-out stations, information on the importance of clean water, and assistance with marine pollution removal. Click here for the form to sign up.
For more information, please contact our Program Coordinator: Adrienne King.
Goals of VI Clean Coasts
The Virgin Islands Clean Coasts initiative is a local collaborative effort between the Virgin Islands Conservation Society and the Department of Planning and Natural Resources Division of Coastal Zone Management. Established in 2018, VI Clean Coasts began with the objective to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in the USVI. It has grown into the Eco-Certification Program to help businesses and the Residential Erosion Control Program to help homeowners.
These are the VI Clean Coasts Goals:
Celebrate existing green practices | Educate ourselves and others about single-use plastics | Exchange best practices with businesses to improve their environmental footprint | Aid businesses in making sustainable changes through free consultations and seed funding | Help homeowners manage erosion and stormwater on residential property
VI Clean Coasts Partners
VI Clean Coasts is a collaborative effort between the Virgin Islands Conservation Society, the Virgin Islands Department of Planning & Natural Resources Division of Coastal Zone Management, and Island Designs Landscape and Storm Water Solutions. As the sponsor of this initiative, DPNR is phasing out single-use plastic cups from its offices and switching to paper cups. Employees are encouraged to use reusable cups and the department has already supplied dozens to its staff members.
What VI Clean Coasts Partners are Saying...
New Bottle Fill Station at Magens Bay
“As one of the many seniors who use Magens Bay as a beautiful place to exercise, either swimming or just walking the beach, the only thing that was missing from that great location was a place to refill my water bottle during and at the end of my workouts… The Magens Bay Authority is now a member of the VI Clean Coasts Program, which made us eligible for the grant that paid for the [new water bottle] filling station and its installation. It has been a great example of people pulling together to make a great place even better!”
– Dennis Nixon, concerned citizen who frequents Magens Bay beach
Cold-Water Station at St. Thomas Swimming Association
“Swimming is a great exercise, but people don’t realize how much you actually sweat… Having this cold-water filling station is a wonderful addition to our facility. We all love having fresh, clean water and very much appreciate VI Clean Coasts and Rotary Club of St. Thomas East ECO for making this happen.”
– John Vasbinder, Executive Director and Head Coach for St. Thomas Swimming Association
“The installation of the water refill station at the Swim Association pool represents another step forward towards fulfilling our club’s goal to help make the VI a plastic free society. We have been working for years to educate the community on the impact of plastic, and more explicitly single use plastic, has on our environment and our landfill. That’s why our Club is so pleased to be able to participate in this very important project.”
– Doug White, Environmental Sustainability Chair for Rotary Club of St. Thomas East ECO