We always talk about how much we love it here, about how this place welcomes everyone from all over the world, how people have found what they were looking for in life in this beautiful Caribbean paradise, yet we still see people leaving garbage at the beaches.
Collecting trash from beaches can be done as an individual or family, as a group or collective, or as part of a special event, but it is 100% true that real change starts with one person!
Being regularly aware of the need to keep all beaches clean and beautiful is one way that each and every one of us can help improve the state of the beach, shoreline to ensure that these environments continue to serve as places both people and wildlife can use safely.
Here are 5 tips to make a real change! Spread the word!
#1 Take an extra Garbage bag with you!
Take a spare garbage bag with you whenever you visit the beach. Take along a pair of gloves also if you don’t want to pick up anything with your bare hands. Make it part of your beach visit to collect at least 5 minutes worth of garbage off the beach before you leave. 5 minutes you usually spend doing nothing at home!
Always dispose of your garbage bag in a proper place of disposal. If you cannot find a proper bin near the beach, take the the baggie home and dispose of it using your own waste disposal methods.
#2 Approach people that you see littering on the beach!!!
If nobody ever speaks up, we will never see real change, so If you see someone throwing garbage on the beach, or leaving and leaving stuff behind approach them, this is not me telling you to go pick a fight! it’s me telling you to politely asking them if they are planning to leave their stuff behind… people will usually get embarrassed and just take their stuff. ALWAYS BE POLITE,words aren’t needed sometimes, some people will get embarrassed with a little stink eye…no words needed.
#3 Look for local groups that organize regular beach cleanups.
Join up and be a regular volunteer helping to keep our beach clean. Attend their meetings to learn more about what they’re doing, where they’re focusing and for garbage collection tips.
#4 Take food in reusable containers.
Have a picnic or a barbecue at the beach but make it one where everything you take goes back home with you and you leave no trace of your food!
#5 Understand that the most valuable thing we have is nature!
Nature is life! so if you start doing this, you will start making a change,create consciousness among your peers!
These are our beaches!
Let’s help preserve them! Look at the following pictures of clean and polluted beaches…
Which one do you prefer?
