From as early as 6am on Wednesday various business houses, schools and organizations along Rodney Bay pledged their support to The Landings, in an effort to clean up their section of the route. The activity, dubbed "Green Out Day," was held to mark Earth Day and prepare for the upcoming Jazz festival.

Organizers, Gary Thulander, managing director and Carl Hunter, engineering director of the Landings, said the initiative sought to show visitors the true beauty of the island, which is normally hidden by mountains of trash. Thulander told the STAR that while the Jazz festival brings hundreds of people to the north of the island, the concept was to ensure that St Lucia did actually represent its ‘Simply Beautiful’ image.

"As Jazz time came around, I conceived this activity to get the entire community involved to see how as a collective group we can make sure that we live up to our island slogan. We have a lot of visitors coming into the island for this activity and we wanted to make sure that our road ways reflect that slogan," said Thulander. He added that it took only one and a half hours for each business to clean up their section of the highway. He said he hopes to use the momentum from this even to host clean up sessions every quarter. On the broader scope, Thulander expressed the desire to see the Green Out Day became a national activity.

Fifteen companies teamed up with The Landings to make the event possible: Bay Walk Mall, JQ Mall, Bay Gardens, Super J, International School, Sportivo, Rodney Bay Marina, Johnson’s Hardware, Palm haven Hotel, Digicel, St Lucia Golf and Country Club, Almond Smugglers, St Lucia national Trust and Sandals Grande. Over 200 people committed to the event with garbage bags and gloves provided by the St Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority.