By IPS Correspondents
BRIDGETOWN, Nov 7 2000 (IPS)

These days in Barbados the sight of the postman bearing a “surprise package” is not necessarily good news. In fact the package may be embarrassing, for it could contain information about garbagethe recipient’s garbage.

President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Undine Whittaker said that residents of some communities do not understand the importance of proper disposal of garbage.

Last week a school was forced to close its doors because students and staff members complained of feeling unwell after inhaling offending odours. Recently teachers at another school suffered skin infection after dead dogs were found near the building.

“The BUT is saying that health and safety are paramount in the school environment,” Whittaker said.

Media reports over the last week said that the first recipients of the new kind of surprise packages delivered through the post were a lawyer, an upscale hotel and a vehicle owner, all caught illegally dumping garbage.

“The ‘Return to Sender’ project is intended to bring home, in a very personal way to the owners of this garbage, the dumping problem frustrating Barbadians,” said journalist Terry Ally, co-ordinator of the Caribbean Environmental Reporters Network, which specialises in pool reporting on regional environmental issues.

Under the project, each package will be accompanied by a letter detailing where and when the garbage was found and making an appeal to the owner to exercise greater care over the disposal of garbage in future.

The ‘Return to Sender’ project is the brainchild of the non- governmental organisation Treading Lightly whose ‘Green Action Line’ has, over the past few months, been investigating complaints of illegal dumping across this Eastern Caribbean island.

The international accounting firm Ernst and Young is funding ‘Green Action Line’.

Treading Lightly director Dr. Colin Hudson says his organisation took the initiative because the laws of the country appeared to be weak and as a result there had been no successful prosecutions for illegal dumping.

“In desperation, we are looking for ways to draw to the attention of the people that this is unacceptable to the public, it is not a good example for our children and not good for our tourism industry,” he said.

Hudson said in the absence of improved environment laws and implementation of enforcement measures such as the deployment of litter wardens, there was a need for ingenious ways of dealing with the present garbage problem.

According to the media, garbage at the side of a road where loads of construction rubble were dumped had been traced to a lawyer operating in the city. One week later, at the same location, a prominent hotel along the island’s south coast was discovered dumping rubbish illegally.

Treading Lightly said the third offence occurred when a driver who stopped at a traffic light hurled a bag containing rubbish through the window of the car. He was traced with the help of the vehicle’s registration number.

The daily Nation newspaper in an editorial over the weekend appealed to Barbadians not to dump their “garbage on every available open lot or along our highways, when we know that this garbage can be collected and put at certain points to be removed by sanitation workers”.

Earlier this month, eight business establishments in a bid to halt the illegal dumping of garbage agreed to pay 4,000 dollars for the first eight successful convictions through the courts.

“We need to make an example to deter other aspiring illegal dumpers,” said Dean Straker, businessman. “Littering should be an automatic ticket. It is a mentality that we need to change,” he added.

The businesses are hoping that other corporate citizens will follow suit and help eradicate the problem.

“It is indeed sad that we have now reached the stage where it has become necessary for Barbadians to be offered monetary rewards to take action against other Barbadians who persist in endangering not only their own health but that of others,” said the Nation newspaper.

Another firm, Choice Publishing and Marketing Company Limited, has joined the fight against littering and has launched its ‘Bin it Barbados’ campaign, describing the project as a “complete litter receptacle deployment, collection and maintenance initiative in public areas in Barbados”.

Under the project at least 350 concrete litter bins have been placed across the island. The company hopes that other business places will sponsor receptacles for a period of three years.

“The entire programme is based on meaningful sponsorship support from all sectors with an interest in maintaining a viable and successful street-litter management programme for Barbados.”

“Bin it Barbados, satisfies the need for an infrastructure project critical to the social and economic development of Barbados which recognises the need for a comprehensive litter management programme. It meets the need for a fundamental solid waste management programme of street-litter collection and control,” the organisers told IPS.

They are also hoping that the project will help launch a “comprehensive and sustainable public media campaign” against illegal dumping.

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