Eco Rebel Barbados is changing views on waste disposal one trash bin at a time.
The community group, started by Dominique Tudor, gathered at Long Beach, Christ Church on Saturday to stage their inaugural project “Bins Fuh Bim”, where adults and children painted garbage bins that would be placed throughout the constituencies of Christ Church East, St Philip South and St Michael South.
Tudor told Barbados TODAY that littering remains a major concern across the island and the two-year-old community organization wants to remind Barbadians that “Bim is not a bin”.
“I believe in changing cultures towards littering, we have to make people feel as if they are a part of it so it is not something that we are preaching to people,” Tudor said.
“We expect that as this movement grows that people start to have a connection with their environment again. We are trying to engage the community and to build awareness as well as to start a movement that people can rally behind against littering in Barbados”.
Tudor said the trash bins will be distributed to areas across the island where there is an abundance of garbage or the truck is unable to drive through the narrow roads. She indicated that the group will be placing anti-littering signage at these pit spots where the bins will be placed and the designated areas would be monitored and maintained by the organization.
She also said that Eco Rebel will be partnering with the creators of Green Circle, who host a post-carnival event Beach Clean Up in Trinidad, to pull off a ‘trash crawl’ one week after the Crop Over Festival. Various event promoters and entertainment groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private companies will get together to party and clean up across the island.
Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams also participated in the activities. The Christ Church East parliamentary representative insisted that locals need to be more responsible for their waste disposal. Abrahams stated that it was not only the responsibility of Government but also the responsibility of residents to ensure that their environment was protected. (KK)
