o the thousands of tourists who stream off boats and planes each day, the Caribbean island of Saint Martin is a pristine wonderland of watersports,
beach bars, and French shopping. Yet all is not as it seems on the sunny shores and the boardwalk. Just take a stroll a few streets down, a few beaches over, a few miles inland, and you will see a different side to our island home. From coastal areas to neighborhoods to wild places, Saint Martin is covered in refuse and trash.
As a recent resident of Saint Martin, I have been both astounded by its natural beauty and horrified by the refuse that mars it. Everywhere I go, I find the marks of careless humanity: the guts of an old apartment in a lonely place, cans on the coral reef, Styrofoam packaging washed up the shore. Not only is this litter and refuse an eyesore, but it wreaks havoc on the natural world. Mark Yokoyama, a naturalist and wildlife author living on Saint Martin, describes the damage that careless disposal can create. “Animals die from eating or being trapped in plastic, chemicals and other pollutants are leaching into the water, organic waste creates unnatural flows of nutrients that can upset the balance between algae and corals and destroy reefs.” Plastics are a particular problem, partly because of the abundance of plastic products and partly because of their slow break-down in the environment. Tadzio Bervoets, manager of the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, notes that they negatively affect coral and kill many of the island’s beloved sea turtle population. “There were numerous occasions where we discovered dead turtles that had their stomachs full of plastic bags, which they mistake for jellyfish.” In addition to sea life, birds, land animals and plants also suffer from the trash problem. “From the Nature Foundation’s perspective,” Tadzio tells me, “We are concerned about the impact trash has on wildlife and their habitat. We constantly have to clear trash from mangroves, which affects not only the ecosystem but the animals, particularly birds, that live in them.”
Who is to blame, I wonder, and how can this be fixed? Yokoyama says that everyone on the island carries the responsibility to keep the island clean. “Everyone is responsible,” he tells me, “Sometimes people will imply that certain groups are worse when it comes to littering and I think that's counterproductive and untrue.” The main problem, both Yokoyama and Bervoets agree, is a lack of awareness and education about trash and pollution on the island. Many people on the island are indifferent to the problems that trash and litter cause. Even the government—particularly on the Dutch side of the multi-national island—regards waste management with a somewhat lackadaisical attitude. “Although we [St. Maarten Nature Foundation] are taking steps to start up recycling programs in schools and within the communities, it will take quite some time to change the mindset of residents,” Tadzio tells me.
Although travelers rarely see this side the island, they also carry part of the responsibility for the island’s problem. Take a walk down any of Saint Martin’s beautiful beaches and you will see broken glass, empty cans, and discarded cigarette butts. Yokoyama believes that part of the reason that tourists often leave their trash is that they often do not know how to dispose of it properly. Many people don’t worry about leaving a wrapper here and a bottle there; they don’t consider the awful impact of a thousand other people doing the exact same thing. On a larger scale, the tourism industry contributes to the island’s waste at the cruise ship terminals. According to Tadzio, cruise ships usually deposit their trash on the island when they arrive. The limited landfill space on the island can barely handle locally-generated trash, and the waste from the cruise ships just exacerbates the problem. “One cruise ship can carry up to four thousand people and there are days when there are up to nine ships in port, so the math is quite worrying.”
Although the trash issue seems to grow grim on Saint Martin, there are many beacons of hope lighting the way for a cleaner, greener island. Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) makes proper beach disposal easier by providing trash cans at many sites. Les Fruits de Mer, an organization co-founded by Yokoyama, organizes education and clean-up events. St. Maarten Nature Foundation works to raise awareness and provide solutions. Several local groups do their part in trash clean-up, from the St. Martin Trails group to the Pride Foundation to American University of the Caribbean. Tourists, too, have the power to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Tadzio suggests that tourists simply make use of trash cans. At some beaches, there are even recycle bins. Using these properly can have a great positive impact on the environment. Travelers also have significant power over the tourism industry. “Since we are a tourism oriented island, any pressure from visitors, being it on hotels or even on decision makers here, from those which we depend on for our livelihood, would go a long way in changing our mentality.” Yokohama also has advice for ecologically responsible tourism: “Tourists should try to make good choices, like they do when they are at home. It's definitely harder… but I think it's possible to do meaningful things to decrease your environmental impact on the island.”
If your travels take you to Saint Martin or another Caribbean island, remember that you have the ability to make an impact. You have a choice: You can leave another beer bottle on the pristine sands, or you can recycle your trash and someone else’s, too. You can damage a reef or protect it. You can waste paper products at your resort, or you can ask the management to bring in recycle bins. The future of the island’s ecosystem lies in your hands and mine. Let us do our part to protect that future by managing our trash responsibly.
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