Residents of San Pedro Ambergris Caye held a cleanup campaign on the island over the weekend.

Maria Novelo reporting...
“It is a constant problem that arises when it comes to San Pedro, the dumping of garbage on the streets and along the beaches. Addressing the concern would take the concentrated efforts of enforcers and people wanting to make a difference. That is why the Ambergris Caye residents, businesses along with the participation of the San Pedro Town Council and the Belize Tourism Board held a massive road and beach clean-up over the weekend. Equipped with garbage trucks, an army of men and women with garbage bags in hand and supporting a cause, the event proved successful. Although a daunting task to remove rubble, plastics and a majority of Styrofoam materials from off the streets, the team started off their campaign from the Boca del Rio Bridge collecting garbage all the way to behind Capricon resort. By the end of the day, the clean up team managed to remove at least five to six dump trucks of trash from the specified area, making the area appealing to the eye of our visitors and residents. Harnish says that the effort will continue in phases until the entire north part of the island has been combed and rid of all the garbage.

LOVEFM

From my observations solid waste mgt and disposal is one of (one of, not "the") the most critical environmental issues facing Belize today.

The use of open burning to dispose of accumulated garbage at the dumps, albeit practical, for lack of a more economical alternative, and convenient, is fraught with long term issues many people do not or have not considered, from water quality to air quality. I watched the Placencia dump light off tons, by my estimate, of garbage on daily(nightly actually) basis. In as much as the leachates from the dump area is at the headwaters of the lagoons behind the peninsula its inevitable that contamination by such nasties as dioxins and polycyclic hydrocarbons will be, or is already happening. The same can be said for AC's own dump. Low temperature combustion of garbage is not a good thing, in fact its horrible but given the avalailable alternatives what else can Belize do? (That's as much a practial question as it is rhetorical)Persoanlly Im thrilled that the garbage is going to be hauled off island but not so thrilled that it may very well be disposed of in a similar fashion elsewhere. Islandside recyling should be a component of any long term solution.

Along these lines Belize faces an uphill, but not insurmountable battle with the "there aint no more, let it hit the floor" mentality when it comes to disposing of empty containers. I think clean up projects like this one help instill a sense of community pride and ownership and teach the kids (hell everyone for that matter) values as well. I'm looking forward to our next rotation so I can participate! I think the concept is great.