....trees were planted this year in the Pedro Plains? In Great Bay, Fort Charles etc etc...

How many trees were cut this year in the area?

Apart from using their wood, clearing for view or building site, two common reason for cutting trees are: Trees harbour lizards greatly feared by many Jamaican ladies and...

"Tief hide behind tree, him fi cut!"

Any others?

What has happened to the substances that came out of our spray guns?

How many burning piles have destroyed compostable materials and vented their gases into the common air?

What was released when man made materials like styrafoam and plastic bags were burned?

Who cares?

Government goin' teck care a it?

Sure!

So sad that there is no recycling progrm in Treasure Beach. Many would be glad to do their part. What use is it to separate garbage when it's all hauled away together? Nothing has been done for disposal of things like energy-saving flourescent bulbs. No way to dispose of dead refrigerators and other appliances except by unsightly dumping. What about computers too old to repair? Motor oil? We should ban styrofoam. We should reuse plastic bags. We should see what Tranquility Bay dumps, including into the sea; they may be a huge employer but it is still our environment, not theirs.

Does anyone have some viable suggestions? The government won't do it, so we must figure this out for ourselves.

If Tranquility Bay is dumping garbage in ocean I will be looking............looking..........looking.

This is great but an expensive and ardious proposition,To recycle anything the government has to be involve, if not we will be spining our wheels. To start with who collect the recyclabes and how. Who collect them to be divided into plastics, papers, aluminum,steel, coppers, styrofoams and cardboards e.t.c. Where is the cycle factories that do the job, does it worth it to take all these to Kingston,or to an establishment nearby, it may have to be built, think of the contributary cost of shipment, personeel, gasoline, storage and other manpowers, and MOSTLY educating the public at large, about the advantages of recycling. You can now tell that without the government involvement and education, this will be a fruitless project.
Do you seperate your gabage now, ask yourself, what about that bottled water, or the red stripe that you just finished did you just tossed the containers or you manage to reuse or recycles any or all, it could be dangerous to reuse some of them. What I am saying is that, educating the communities and the whole of the citizen as to the value of recycling, we may not be able to do this.
I submit though, that it can be done. One more thing to add to the politicin woes and headache, the pond, the roads, the water, the electricity and police patrol car, infact Security in general.
Charity begins at home, if individualy we cycle, we can educate the young ones, neighboors, hotel, guesthouse and everyone.

As a Peace Corps volunteer I put together a recycling program with a school in St. Catherine back in 1999-2000. We filled half of the football field with plastic bottles waiting for the truck from the recycling company to arrive, which it never did. Then rains hit, washed all of the recycled bottles into the drains, clogged them, and created some local flooding!
I don't know if the recycling company even exists anymore, but until it can be shown that there is a recycling program in Jamaica I would start with reducing use and reusing what you can and pressing for the creation of a recycling program. Are there communities in Jamaica today that have a viable recycling program? It would be nice to see some examples of how communities have created them.
Finally, my thoughts and prayers are with you over the next few days as Hurricane Dean approaches. I am planning on being in Treasure Beach on Friday if all goes well and I can make it. I was planning on doing some research, but it may have to shift to helping with recovery for the community in any way I can.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm in foreign now and watching Dean.

One million miles away and my heart always skips a beat when Jamaica calls.

Yes, The Government and The Governed are in need of some good ole' Groundation to establish Trust and co-operation....parallel with this....

Simple things: Separation of materials, composting, local recycling ventures...

Electronics, esp computers.

Education on use of compost as an adjunct to grass mulch. Companion planting, rotation.

Appreciation of whats in the spray can!

Plastics?

And the word 'Dash', it may just fade out of use.

Be safe all, turey.