Over 700 tonnes of waste removed in nationwide cleanup

A nationwide effort to remove bulk waste – sparked by a primary school student’s plea – has already cleared more than 700 tonnes from communities across Barbados, the environment minister said.

The initiative, One Nation, One Mission, One Clean Up, was launched following a plea by nine-year-old Naomi Dummett, who called for a “beautiful Barbados”. Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Adrian Forde, described Naomi as a young “Earth Champion” advocating environmental action in St George.

“We started about two weeks prior to the school island cleanup, targeting those schools reopening on the 4th and 6th of September, to do bulk waste removal and beautification around those schools,” Forde told Barbados TODAY. “We have continued with gusto and zeal across this country, and experts tell me that we have removed over 700 tonnes of bulk waste from communities across Barbados. This includes fridges, old stoves, washing machines, beds, old microwaves, and things of that sort.”

The minister stressed the importance of collective effort. “Put your bulk waste out. Let us have a national approach to this effort. We are seeing success from our end, but it is a costly exercise for government. Equally, we are asking Barbadians to do their part and honour the country they live in, a country they want to welcome visitors to, so we can all say we have the most beautiful country in the Caribbean.”

While expressing disappointment with some current practices, Forde emphasised the government’s commitment to environmental projects. “In the gullies project, we are not only cleaning up bulk waste; we are doing the ‘Gullies are Life’ project. So far, we have removed 13 tonnes of solid waste from our gullies, garbage, carcasses, which protects us from the impacts of climate change.”

He highlighted the critical role of clean gullies for ecosystems and carbon sequestration. “It is critical for the survival of our ecosystems to have vibrant, clean gullies, and that is what the crew is doing right now. We have 13 ecologists working with cleaners and 100 workers in the gullies. This work led to the rediscovery of the Barbados thread snake, the smallest snake in the world, after 136 years.”

Forde also reiterated the importance of beautification. “We must have elements of beautification. That is why, over the next couple of weeks, we will start our community beautification competition, where the person with the most beautiful gardens will receive prizes across the different parishes. We want people to compete and to be imbued with a sense of beauty because that is how we see Barbados.”

He outlined other ongoing projects under his ministry: “We have the tree-planting competition, sargassum is being removed from the beaches, we have the gullies project, and of course, the mecca of Saint Michael itself, the beautiful oasis called the Botanical Gardens, which we are enhancing. You would have already seen that the 242 acres on the most eastern side of the Botanical Gardens have been cleaned, and we are preparing for the development of the international garden.

“Barbadians must have green spaces . . . . That is what we are about, allowing people to have recreational spaces, spaces where they can connect with nature in a special way . . .”

louriannegraham@barbadostody.bb