Reducing plastic pollution in the Caribbean
In 2016, Sint Maarten – an island territory forming part of the Netherlands in the Caribbean – generated 9.7 kg of municipal solid waste per capita per day, a level higher than any other island in the Caribbean. Today, the situation is not much better. There is still an alarming amount of plastic pollution on the island, concentrated around Zagersgut Road along the northern shore of Fresh Pond, a 14-hectare water body designated an important bird area for Sint Maarten. According to a press release posted on the website of NGO Nature Foundation St. Maarten, plastic and other litter was blown into a small inlet in the Fresh Pond, polluting the water and disturbing native bird and fish species. Sint Maarten is a popular holiday destination with inadequate local waste management facilities, and residents and tourists alike generate enormous amounts of plastic pollution. Further aggravating the situation, masses of plastic and debris wash up on the island territory’s shores from other countries. As a participant in the EU-funded In-No-Plastic project, Nature Foundation is employing various social strategies to reduce plastic use on Sint Maarten. Project coordinator Alice Manley described seeing so much plastic in one place as “devastating.” She then explained the severity of the situation: “Juvenile Slider Turtles were climbing on top of the plastic and swimming underneath it, indicating that all the water was covered and suffocated by plastics.” Since its launch in 2020, In-No-Plastic has been focusing on innovative ways to prevent, remove and reuse marine plastic litter. The social strategies introduced on Sint Maarten by Nature Foundation and In-No-Plastic team members include various social platforms to provide information to local students and residents.
School presentations and beach clean-ups
Nature Foundation has already organised presentations at local schools, and has carried out beach clean-ups with small groups of students on four of Sint Maarten’s beaches: Kim Sha, Mullet Bay, Belair and Great Bay. The presentations focus on how plastic affects the island’s ecosystem and on ways to reduce plastic usage. Additionally, 5 beach clean-ups carried out over a period of 3 weeks resulted in an astonishing 407 kg of rubbish being collected. “Conducting clean-ups with young students is a very rewarding task,” remarks Alice Manley in another Nature Foundation press release. “The younger education starts, the more information regarding litter and why it has a negative effect on our environment will be observed by the students. This allows them to think about the litter more passionately and how it can be removed from our environment.” The island’s ocean and lagoon waters will be monitored and tested for microplastics every 6 months to determine if microplastic levels drop at the same rate as the amount of plastic litter removed during community clean-ups.
Challenging university students
Beyond Sint Maarten, In-No-Plastic (Innovative approaches towards prevention, removal and reuse of marine plastic litter) partners BlueXPRT and Sensum have coordinated the development of the Master Challenge, a programme in the Netherlands that encourages innovative environmental solutions amongst older students. The programme connects universities and industries by offering Master’s students the opportunity to solve real challenges that companies are facing. Students are tasked with developing a social incentive programme that encourages the collection of litter from aquatic environments, with a focus on a sustainable blue economy. For more information, please see: In-No-Plastic project website
Keywords
In-No-Plastic, plastic, litter, Sint Maarten, Caribbean, island, pollution
