Last July, when we were on our annual visit to Grand Cayman, there were several articles in the Compass about Mt. Trashmore and the George Town landfill.
We are fortunate to have owned a time-share at Plantation Village since 1987 and love our summer diving vacation in Grand Cayman.
However, each time we visit I find it extremely difficult to throw away items that we would never put in the garbage at home.
At home we recycle things.
I am sure that 50 years ago everything in Cayman was recycled or reused.
I feel guilty that my very presence on your island adds to the waste problem at Mt. Trashmore. I do realize that Hurricane Ivan created even more of a problem, but there are small things we can all do to help.
We also go scuba diving in Bonaire. In all of their tourist guides and posted in many shops are notices to please take dead batteries back home.
They do not want to risk polluting their waters with decomposing batteries. If Bonaire can ask that, could Cayman do the same?
Back in the States we have collection sites where we can recycle dead batteries. Unless Cayman is going to start collecting dead batteries for recycling, do what Bonaire does.
I am always amazed at the number of plastic bags used in your grocery stores. When we do visit Grand Cayman we usually take our own cloth shopping bags to the store and reuse any plastic ones we get.
In Bonaire people take their own bags to the grocery stores or use cardboard packing boxes.
Bags simply aren’t provided.
In Germany we were charged 10 cents for a plastic bag at the grocery store.
We are often told that turtles mistake plastic bags for jellies and die as a result of trying to eat them. Anything we can do to prevent plastic bags from entering the trash or water is good.
Do what they do in Germany, start charging 10 cents for each plastic bag. Many companies give away reusable shopping bags. It is great advertising and prevents waste.
The amount of Styrofoam that is thrown out with take home food is horrifying. Could those companies get reusable plastic containers that people could use over and over again? Chicken Chicken does it with drinking cups. If plastic containers with the name of the restaurant on them were available it would be great advertising.
These might seem like small things, but one of my favourite quotes from Gandhi is, “What you do will be insignificant, but it is imperative that you do it.”
What can you ask each visitor and resident to do to encourage reusing and recycling of items?
Too bad we can’t learn from those older Caymanians who didn’t have a continuous supply of plastic bags and had to make do with what they had.
Louise Marquering – Corvallis, Oregon
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