Beauty Spot’s Tarnished By Litter Bugs
One thing I love about Barbados is it’s natural beauty and the factor that I can jump in the car and in 10 minutes I can literally be what seems like a million miles away from the real world of traffic jams and people.
I’m fortunate that I’m only a stones throw away from some amazingly beautiful beaches that are on the Caribbean Sea side of the Island and only about a 20 odd minute drive away from the Atlantic Ocean side beaches.
I love sitting on a near empty beach chilling out and taking things real easy watching the waves, or just floating on the water without jet skis whizzing past spoiling the tranquillity. Fortunately you can find plenty of beaches like that during the week in Barbados. At the weekends admittedly some beaches can get a wee bit crowded, but nothing like those crazy over crowded ones that you will find in countries like Spain and Greece.
The one thing that spoils the natual beauty of Barbados and that is litter. I feel that it needs to be looked into and some serious actions needs to be taken by the Government to clean up and put a stop to all the filthy rubbish that you will constantly find at certain beaches that have lots of people at them at the weekend. For example I have been to Silversands Beach quite a few times on a Monday and the litter left over from all the picnickers at the weekend is unbelievable.
I don’t know about you, but for me walking along a beautiful beach and enjoying nature at is best is kind of tarnished when you have to look at and dodge rubbish strewn all along the sands. I was recently at truly amazing beauty spot called River Bay and again the place was an absolute mess with rubbish all over the place the day after the picnickers had left.
In fact it isn’t just he beauty spots that have this problem, the centre of Bridgetown has a bit of a problem as well, in fact during my visit there on Wednesday, I waked past a dead rat on the pavement. I was going to take a picture for my blog, but it was too disgusting.
I personally feel, just like many locals do and tourists that come to Barbados that something radical needs to be done, before the litter problem starts to tarnish the island. I find it strange that the Government here is spending millions of dollars trying to attract more Americans to come and vacation in Barbados, yet they think they are going to like coming here and seeing filthy rubbish all over the place, rusting cars and overgrown plots of land, which are all a haven for vermin and bugs!
It wouldn’t take a lot of effort or money to clean up Barbados to make it a true paradise, KEEP BARBADOS BEAUTIFUL, just do it. If a world recession is really upon us, the Governemnt of Barbados should be doing its part in making sure that visiors leave Barbados with a good impression and not going home telling there friends and familly that there is a litter problem on the Island.
Comments
15 Responses to “Beauty Spot’s Tarnished By Litter Bugs”
Leave a Reply
Sponsor
Bridgetown, Barbados
Bridgetown, BARBADOS
79 °F (84 °F)
Weather data provided by weather.com®
I know what you mean, I hate seeing litter out in nature as well. It just kinda takes from the “nature” of it all. I just wrote a post basically on the same thing. http://goliath0825.com/blog/blogging-thoughts/leave-no-trace
it would be very nice if there is one picture of Barbados so i could at least share my opinion but base on what you have written, i guess it is not only on your place has the problem, most of the places:country. let’s just cheer the word: KEEP THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL..:)
i really hate it when people indiscriminately leave their garbage all around. i have this urge to tell them to pick their garbage up. but sometimes, i just avoid confrontation. sometimes, i pick them up.
I personally don’t think it is worth the hassle to tell someone to pick up their litter, there are too many crazy people going around. Dropping litter is not just a Barbados problem. It is however much worse here than it is back home in Scotland.
I agree 100% KEEP THE WORLD BEUTIFUL.
You have to watch out when driving behind cars at night, as the Chefette and KFC chicken boxes come flying out of the windows.
What is so difficult in keeping a plastic bag in the car and dump your garbage at home!
It is a very bad habit that Bajans have. You can be driving behind a mini-bus, bus or car and they throw out snow-cone cups, peanut shells, ackee seeds, etc. etc. I’m sure if they started fining people as in Canada, it will get a lot better.
It will take some time. Maybe they can start teaching children from a very young age in Primary School that it should not be done.
There used to be a slogan many years ago, ‘Keep Barbados neat and clean, keep your litter off the scene’. Also, at one time one of the petrol companies were giving out small garbage bags for people to keep in their car.
Barbados needs to employee the beach salesmen, drunks, etc., without real jobs… to clean up the beaches and roads. What a great way for these people to earn a living that is real! It doesn’t take any education, transportation, etc.!
The tourist aren’t the ones littering……..it’s the homeless, drunks, etc.! Tourist are very concerned with cleanliness and their surroundings.
I’ve lived in Barbados for several years and find the locals are the problem. Educate them, and make everyone aware…………….tourist put food and money in their pockets.
Don’t get me wrong…………..I love Bajans.
I hope the Government makes a real effort to clean up not only beauty spots, but all over the island and show the world that Barbados really does care about keeping the island a beautiful place to visit and live on.
barbados does not need to employ beach sales men, drunks etc to keep here clean. i think 3/4 of bajans are absolutely dirty and irresponsible. these dirty habits are hard for them to change as they are never prosecuted for littering. children watch their parents throw items through the window onto the ground; they do it too. i still get absolutely mortified when i see it! i am a bajan and was taught cleanliness at home and it was enforced at school. i’ve lived in canada and loved the country. i’ve taught my children never to practice such dirty acts; they are teenagers have not gone astray from the habit. i think parents really need to start with their surroundings and make sure they pass on the message to their children.
Thanks for contributing to the fight of keeping our environment clean. I am a Jamaican, living in Ja and we are faced with ever-present problem. My approach (as an educator) in to influence the change for the platform of ‘each one reaching one/ eaach one playing his role’ as a civic model….
We know it is not the tourists and it cant be home1ess bums as they don’t have cars to chuck things out of! Drunks then? No, it is just ordinary Bajans incuding midd1e c1ass professiona1s and some of whom I persona11y know to be very we11 off indeed who have no intention of doing anything about the rubbish they throw around the p1ace. There is something g1eefu1 in the way they chuck food containers into the cane fie1ds or just anywhere en route. I have said before that I have even been reprimanded by friends for c1eaning up the beach as on1ookers wou1d think 1ess of me. What’s that about? It is not up to the government or teachers but individua1 fami1ies to stop 1ittering and get their kids to do the same. I sti11 can’t he1p fee1ing it is a11 a bit odd for Bajans not to see the importance of this issue, not just to tourism but for themse1ves. WHY don’t they care? As CatScan points out, it’s not a big dea1 to keep one of the far too many p1astic bags that get handed out in shops handy for rubbish in the car.
some bajans are totally filthy and has passed on their nasty habits to their young. the govt is just as tardy for they would not prosecute. the place is getting more and more horrible as the years go by. yet these same bajans has the ability to keep other people’s countries clean but not their own
I have to agree, I was up visiting some of my wifes familly members in St John not so long ago, and it is a truly beautiful and scenic part of Barbados, but they don’t give a dam about how they deal with thier rubbish. Rubbish all over the place, rusted car parts everywhere, the place is an unbelievable mess. I guess they don’t mind having lots of rats and other vermin running around all over the place and the diseases that they are bringing upon themselfs.
I am a Bajan, grew up and have lived in Barbados all my life. I have never littered, nor has my family or any of my friends. We are all into recycling and being environmentally conscious as much as possible. I quite agree that littering on the island is a huge problem.
But I would also like to point out that presently the filthiest person in our neighbourhood is a white English lady. Not only does she walk her dogs untied and engage them in dog-fights(another problem not exclusive to our locals), but she allows them to mess everywhere, causing flies to harbour around. She also tied the dogs in such a way that they would mess in our neighbour’s yard and not hers.
This lady also takes her rubbish from her home and dumps them on vacant lots, and piles trash so high in her garbage that it falls over, stray dogs tear it apart and as a result bottles and other debris get strewn all around the gap. I also worked in the tourist industry for a number of years and personally saw with my own eyes tourists litter. This included them dumping plastic cups, condoms and other debris in the hotel swimming pools.
I just wanted to point this out for the benefit of those commenters who like to generalize and claim that tourists and expatriates are all above this type of deplorable behaviour and that only “filthy Bajans” do this kind of thing. Thanks.