This is one of the reasons I was surprised by the TripAdvisor award. I agree that Ambergris Caye is a wonderful island, but all is not so beautiful or perfect on "La Isla Bonita". The trash problem drove me crazy. We'd pick up trash on the beach ourselves, but I watched so many locals littering as they rode their bikes along. It greatly saddened me that some local residents have so little pride or care in their home. I know a lot of the trash washes up on the beach, but much of it is just discarded by folks who don't care. Very sad.

Emily

Emily it's so nice to hear that someone actually feels the same as me. When I first moved here and voiced this opinion people would react so negatively that I even darned to mention anything. It's unfortunate but I think over time many just give up and say nothing. So in the end the staus quo wins.

How strange. My experience has been totally different. I find that the community often talks about litter and works actively on campaigns to combat it. Whether this is being done by Neighbourhood Watch groups, the Town Board or by other groups or individuals, littering is talked about in our media, in our schools and in our community groups. It's a hard issue to combat - anywhere in the world - but I've seen huge improvements in recent years. Most recently there was the 'Don't Mess with San Perdito' campaign.

Now, that said, this is an issue that we need to continue to address and be involved in so that we can see further improvement on our island. There is always work to be done but I have had good experiences with the Town Board when complaining about offenders. If you see a problem with littering, you may find that it is much more effective to discuss it with the Town Board, than posting on the message board.

Maybe you all are too young to remember back when this was a big problem in the good ole USA??? It took a lot of education and signage to clean up our road ways and streets. Remember 'DON'T BE A LITTERBUG'?
There have been vast improvements here and yes, work still needs to be done but I actually see people picking up things they have dropped.
This subject is addressed on a very regular basis - but what the heck - another jab of a reminder never hurts.

Thank you Harriette, I remember well....When my father learned to use the momentum of the on ramps to the Freeways in order to throw an A&W bag out of the car window to get rid of our trash. At the time he claimed it was the best way because the trash and it's contents would not hit the car or anyone else.......Today he would never think of throwing the smallest piece of trash to the ground.....However, at one time it was what people did. Even in San Pedro it is way better than 10 years ago.....However, I can understand the perspective particularly if a person comes from a 'clean' community with solid municipals in place.....For me the place is looking cleaner everyday....And thank you to all the litter signs posted by SACNW....They are clever and colorful reminders.

Its great to see people on the beach, actuallt the park area at Boca del Rio use the two trash bins provided , but i still see people just throw empty bottles into the sea, i think i'll getr myself a bull horn and shout out and shame them !!!!

Yes, and we lived north of the bridge where there were notably few trash cans. I'd watch tourists walking around and thru trash on the beaches (Journey's End area particularly bad, also quite a bit between Grand Caribe and AkBol) and feel embarrassed for them and for Ambergris Caye. I agree that things have improved, but when I see locals throwing bottles and their lunch trash on the roadways as they ride along, there's still a long way to go. I do think that south Ambergris has made great strides as has the town, but it's true that I came from a very "clean" place in the US where people cleaned up after their pets and you rarely saw a piece of stray trash, so the beaches and roadways on Ambergris were shocking by contrast.

Its great to see people on the beach, actuallt the park area at Boca del Rio use the two trash bins provided , but i still see people just throw empty bottles into the sea, i think i'll getr myself a bull horn and shout out and shame them !!!!

I'm glad to hear things have improved and honestly scared to see how it looked when you all state that it was worse. Yikes! I do agree that we all need to make an effort in this arena but I do disagree with Collyk's comment that this subject needs to be raised to the Town Council instead of this message board.

First, the assumption here is that I have not raised this to the Town Council...which is incorrect. Second, this is exactly why forum's such as these were created. So people can share good and bad experiences. You can't just talk about the Yin without the Yang...so to speak. It may be an uncomfortable photo but it is the reality around town.

Robvee...do be careful with that bull horn LOL