More than 100 volunteers who participated in this year’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) at Little Bay Beach and Pond (see Thursday paper) deserve credit for their selfless dedication on behalf of the whole community. It’s actually sad these people have to work so hard at no personal interest to remove mess left behind by others, but remains the reality on the ground for now.
That they collected more than 2,000 pounds of trash in any case shows their efforts continue to be necessary and appreciated. This excludes construction waste found in alarming amounts.
The latter requires better control and enforcement despite limited available resources for such. Authorities must crack down hard on culprits who find dumping leftover building materials in nature easier and/or cheaper than going to the Philipsburg landfill as required, just like those emptying the content of sewage trucks into Simpson Bay Lagoon and elsewhere instead of fulfilling their legal obligation by taking it to the treatment plant on Illidge Road.
Of the 2,000 pounds, 763.4 were glass and plastic bottles (40%). This clearly illustrates what a positive difference intensified and effective recycling could make.
Delay in implementing a single-use-plastics and Styrofoam container ban passed by Parliament obviously doesn’t help. While adequate preparations are understandably needed, several target dates have already been missed.
The question is how much longer St. Maarten’s environment can afford to wait, because the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Time for lip-service and excuses has thus run out.
