Clean Harbors Jamaica chief Michael McCarthy on cleaning up Kingston Harbour

KINGSTON, Jamaica. “I work where others play, and it is the greatest job in the world because the ocean was never just a career choice for me; it is where I feel most alive,” Michael McCarthy, managing director of Clean Harbors Jamaica Limited, told Caribbean Life on Friday, May 29.

For eight years, Mr McCarthy has led one of Jamaica’s leading marine waste management companies, battling sceptical bankers, a sometimes resistant public and natural disasters.

Born in Kingston 39 years ago, he attended Ardenne High School, worked in his uncle’s automotive business and then studied nautical sciences at the Jamaica Maritime Institute. He co-founded the company with like-minded people to protect harbours, coastlines and waterways.

Hard to fund

Raising capital proved “immensely challenging”, he said, because banks were reluctant to recognise the value of maritime assets. The company persevered through partnerships and innovation.

Today it focuses mainly on ship-generated waste. In 2025 the National Solid Waste Management Authority appointed it as its operator for marine waste management through a memorandum of understanding. It also has support from the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, the National Environment and Planning Agency and the Port Authority of Jamaica.

Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project

The company is best known for its role in the Kingston Harbour Cleanup Project, an alliance with funders The Ocean Cleanup and the GraceKennedy Foundation. It began after Mr McCarthy attended a 2019 lecture by foundation chief executive Caroline Mahfood, and the Dutch-based Ocean Cleanup, which was looking for a Caribbean project, was brought in.

Clean Harbors maintains interceptors, large “strainers” placed in major gullies leading into the harbour, which have so far prevented nearly 6 million pounds of waste from entering it. Some were damaged by Hurricane Melissa last year.

“Watching that happen was genuinely heartbreaking,” he said, but added that it had strengthened the team’s resolve to improve its barrier systems.

Mr McCarthy was to join Ms Mahfood and Professor Mona Webber of the University of the West Indies as presenters at the 36th annual GraceKennedy Foundation Lecture on June 5, World Environment Day, on the project.

Regional ambitions

“Our vision extends far beyond Jamaica’s shores,” he said, adding that the company aims to become a trusted partner for neighbouring Caribbean nations. “We believe that the knowledge, experience, and systems we are building today can help shape a cleaner, more sustainable future not just for Jamaica, but for the Caribbean as a whole.”