CHAIRMAN of Legacy Barbados, Peter Boos has expressed "serious concern" about the garbage which was left behind on the East Coast after last weekend's Party Monarch Finals.

In a strongly worded email which he copied to several prominent persons including chairman of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), Al Gilkes, Boos, who also lives in St Joseph, said: "It is of serious concern that only three months after launching the Legacy Vision for Barbados, which includes as one of its seven goals the transforming of Barbados into the cleanest, most environmentally advanced country in the world, that the NCF, a Government agency, can plan and execute an event in one of the most beautiful natural environments of Barbados that leaves it looking like a garbage dump."

List of questions

Stating that we should be ashamed of our disrespect for the environment, he issued the following list of questions for the NCF:

*What detailed planning was done to ensure the environment was not damaged by heavy vehicles, thousands of people and so on?

*What efforts were made to get patrons to pick up their garbage before leaving? Were public announcements made on the day? Were the performers asked to advertise environmental awareness?

*How many garbage receptacles were provided to patrons? Were any skips put in place to make it easy to dispose of and collect garbage?

*What efforts were made, in all the public announcements advertising the event, to educate the public about environmental issues and to ask patrons to bring bags to remove their garbage or put it in receptacles provided?

*Did the NCF see this event as an opportunity to begin implementing our National Strategic Plan's goals for the environment?

*Does the NCF have environmental policies and standards for events it sponsors or supports financially?

The chairman suggested that "we begin to measure success of all public events by including measures relating to environmental excellence and best practices".

When contacted, Gilkes referred the SUNDAY SUN to the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) which had responsibility for cleaning up the East Coast.

In responding to the letter, Ian Bourne, public relations officer of the SSA said:

"I can assure you the SSA has in fact been cleaning the East Coast since Monday but we were impeded by a number of factors . . . rainfall, plus stalls and tents still in the area – making it difficult for teams to manoeuvre in that type of terrain under such conditions."

He said the SSA managed to remove two truckloads, and while stalls owners did use garbage bags, because of a lapse in security, vagrants tore open the bags to get at bottles.

He added that receptacles were also placed in the area. Noting that the SSA has been in charge of cleaning up after the event since its inception, Bourne submitted that in the past they had always been able to complete the task in 48 hours or less.

He added that the SSA had been running advertisements asking patrons at events to bring along a bag to put their garbage in, while emcees always encourge people to use garbage bags.

"Lectures, free car garbage bags, brochures and increased litter patrols are part of a mandated effort to get citizens aware and co-operative ahead of the Cricket World Cup and beyond," he said.