1. 12. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016. DAILY NATION.
HABITAT
Total garbage collected: 6 425.3 pounds
Total recyclables: 2 935.8 pounds
Non-recyclables: 3 489.5 pounds
Number of groups: 20
Total number of participants: 686
Volunteers from some sites noted the following:
Copacabana/Browne’s Beach:
Garbage along the beach path – bottles, styrofoam
containers, small plastic bags, sandwich bread
bags, ketchup bottles, sliced cheese wrappers, tyres
containing brackish water, that were said to be used
as seating near the beach.
Dover Beach, St Lawrence Gap and
surrounding areas:
Non-returnable glass bottles, styrofoam containers,
tin foil wrappers, plastic cups.
East Coast to Barclays Park:
Large number of garbage was buried beneath the
sand and included fish tackle, nautical rope, old cord.
Garbage in shrubbery included waste dumped along
the beach. Trash bags which included a bag of old
cheques and financial documents were found along
the highway. Large amount of garbage embedded
deep in the sand which was difficult to get to. Mostly
plastics, glass bottles, soda cans, styrofoam, old shoes,
clothing, tissue, some mechanic items.
Crane Beach (North):
Toilet seat, lots of slippers, mostly plastics, small
number of glass, 5-foot to 6-foot rusted gas cylinder
(weighting about 100 pounds), lots of plastic, nets,
ropes. Picnic areas:
plates and plastics.
Consett Bay:
A deep freeze, a
dishwasher, 55-gallon
metal drums, rims,
tyres, wood from
boats, fibreglass,
old shoes, food
cans, plastic and
glass bottles.
SNAPSHOT OF
COLLECTION
THIS PILE OF
GARBAGE,
including cans,
was removed
from Consett Bay
by volunteers
from RBC
Insurance.
(Pictures compliments
the Future Centre Trust.)
A CHILD SHALL
LEAD THEM:
The youngest
volunteer,
two-year-
old Gabrielle
Russell, pitched
in at Brandon’s
Beach.
THE NEW PROGRAMME
COORDINATOR of the Future
Centre Trust has made
a call for Barbadians to take
ownership and responsibility
for their garbage.
Last Saturday, the Trust
spearheaded an islandwide
clean-up of Barbados. Just over
680 volunteers in 20 groups
descended on sites around the
island to rid beaches and roadways of litter and illegally
dumped garbage. By the end of the day, they had
collected 6 425.3 pounds or just under three
tonnes of garbage.
Tracey Edwards, who took up the post of programme
coordinator at the beginning of September, said that
based on the amount of waste collected in past
clean-ups, she was expecting a big haul. Nonetheless,
she was still surprised.
“The numbers have been increasing since 2010 but
maybe we were expecting it to be less based on what
we were being told at some of the sites,” she said.
Accidental waste
As a result, Edwards admitted the teams expected
accidental waste. For example, she said Barclays Park,
in St Andrew, appeared deceptively clean. But when one
volunteer tried to remove a bag from in the sand, he
realised it was embedded. When the volunteers dug into
the sand, they realised lots of garbage had been buried
in numerous spots beneath it.
In addition, the bushes at the edges of the highway
hid lots of garbage as well.
“We did not expect to see people still throwing their
garbage, deliberately tossing their garbage along the
side of the highway – an out-of-sight, out-of-mind kind
of scenario. We did not expect that, but we saw that
at Barclays.”
Edwards said another group of volunteers removed
tyres off one popular beach that were apparently used
THE new programme
coordinator at the
Future Centre Trust,
Tracey Edwards (left),
and Trust volunteer
Sheena Kirton at the
opening ceremony
of Clean-Up Barbados
on Saturday. (GP)
as seating, but were left behind and were filled with
brackish water.
“So you go there, you want to find a clean area; you
search to find a clean area but you don’t leave it clean?
You just leave it there? I am not sure what you are
actually saying, or what you expect to be done with it,
but you expect to come back another time to have your
picnic in a clean spot. That’s disappointing and it’s still
unexpected in this time.”
She said she thought people would be aware that
Government’s resources were limited, and would use
the skips and garbage receptacles provided or would
take their garbage back home with them.
“We have been doing this for eight years. The
message is we clean up but when you see us out there,
we’re saying to you we are creating awareness about
how you manage your waste.”
As a result, Edwards said she was looking at
a large public education drive and working with the
National Conservation Commission and the Sanitation
Service Authority. But she admitted she needed to
become au fait with the dynamics and collect
some more information.
“In my past experience what we have done is have
a continuous message, and we had our project and it
goes on for 18 months. We use signage in some areas,”
she said.
“But I am not going to be saying this is what we will
be doing because I think it is still for me to collect some
information. I need to understand those variables, the
root cause of it.”
OT OF
WHILE VOLUNTEERS were
scouring the beaches and roadways
for litter last weekend, a number
of divers were making their
presence felt in the waters off
Carlisle Bay, St Michael.
The group, led by Barbados Blue
Dive Shop and including members
of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project,
Bellairs Research Institute, as well as
divers from Eco Dive and Roger’s
Scuba Shack, were taking part
in their 18th annual Beach and
Reef Clean-Up.
When they were finished, 329 pounds
of glass bottles had been removed from
the Bay, as well as off Hilton and
Gravesend beaches.
18th annual
clean-up
for divers
6 000
pounds
of garbage