Residents living beside the 10-storey Seacrest development that is under construction on Seven Mile Beach complained to the Department of Environment over the weekend of polystyrene ‘snow’ falling.
Photos from the scene on Sunday morning show the white material strewn along the beach and garden area of Sunset Cove.
In response to a query from the Cayman Compass, the Department of Environment said it had received reports of polystyrene from the Seacrest development next to Sunset Cove.
Following the complaint, the construction company took steps to prevent the polystyrene from blowing onto the area as Tropical Storm Elsa was forecast to impact Cayman on Sunday night.
“We can confirm that the development did have containment screens installed before the passing of tropical storm/hurricane Elsa,” a DoE spokesperson told the Compass.
“As of this morning (Tuesday), the contractors are in the process of cleaning up the polystyrene. They have indicated that they are going to have a meeting to discuss the best methodology for containing the polystyrene moving forward.”
The DoE spokesperson added, “They are aware that they are adjacent to a Marine Protected Area and are trying to ensure that the polystyrene is retained and properly disposed of. They will be reinstalling the containment screens prior to recommencing any construction works.
“We will be keeping in touch with the contractor and doing spot inspections.”
The issue was posted on the Cayman Development Watch Facebook page. One commenter who posted photos of the polystyrene at Sunset Cove said, “It’s falling like snow from the air.”
Another commenter said this had been going on for some time and she had noticed the white material blowing over from the construction in December this year.
Seacrest, a 10-storey, 20-unit condominium project by the Butler Group, was approved by the Central Planning Authority in 2018.
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Same thing is happening along the road between Olea and CIS sports field I noticed today.