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 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.” (HLE)
