Guts could rid us of litter

By Peter Bynoe
| Fri, September 14, 2012 - 12:00 AM

()

I have been unsuccessful since 1997 in encouraging successive Governments to enforce litter and illegal dumping laws. I have been told Barbados will always be dirty, because Barbadians expect to be picked up after.

But I believe that with enforcement we can change this habit of the population. Recently, a few illegal dumpers have been forced to clean up the mess they made; but this is not nearly enough a punishment.

Politicians grumble about litter and clogged drains, but don’t do anything about it. The reality is that people must be fined. If you ask people not to speed, not to steal, not to drink and drive, to wear a seat belt and so on, little will be achieved without enforcement. The same is true for littering.

On the Internet and I looked up Litter In Barbados, and on the first page I found two blogs by visitors to our island. Below is an excerpt from the first.

“I for one find it difficult to understand those people that cannot be bothered to put their litter into a rubbish bin. How . . . do they think it is okay to just drop it on the ground, whenever or wherever they feel like.

“I watched a guy, walking down the street with his kids in Bridgetown, Barbados, the other day gladly drop a piece of litter on the street . . . .”

Below is an excerpt from the second blog.

“The one thing that spoils the natural beauty of Barbados is litter . . . . Serious action 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 . . . .

Walking along a beautiful beach and enjoying nature at its best is kind of tarnished when you have to look at and dodge rubbish strewn all along the sand. I was recently at a truly amazing beauty spot called River Bay and again the place was an absolute mess with rubbish all over the place the day after picnickers had left . . . .”

How embarrassing! A country strewn with litter will not have a successful tourism industry for very long. It’s that simple!

We need leaders with the guts to enforce the litter laws – desperately!

Share your thoughts

Please sign in or register to leave your comments.

Page 1 of 1 pages

Posted by Tony Webster 9 months ago: Since we have had a long history of Ministers of Government who seem to conveniently forget their oaths of office, maybe, next time around, we should give them another oath to stiffen their resolve: to swear "before God and man"…to keep their oaths. Or maybe again, just forget about swearing at all.

Comment Link

Page 1 of 1 pages