By Editorial Staff St. Lucia Times
Long before Tropical Storm Bret washed marine litter ashore on Vigie Beach on June 23, Greening the Caribbean (GtC), a private environmental management business that provides waste management, recycling and consulting services, has been exploring how best to reduce beach littering in Saint Lucia.
Greening the Caribbean, in partnership with the National Conservation Authority (NCA), the organization mandated to upkeep our beaches, as well as SLASPA launched the Vigie Beach/Marine Litter Prevention Initiative on July 4.
The research phase began October 2022 with a grant from Gulf Caribbean Fisheries Institute, with corporate matching grant support from Massy Stores (SLU), Harris Paints, JE Bergasse, Coco Palm Resorts, East Winds Resort, Heineken (SLU) and Cre8tive Imagination.
The research survey of 624 beachgoers, not only highlighted the following reasons why people litter at the Vigie beach, but it helped formulate strategies including targeted messaging at each rubbish bin:
- 65% of beachgoers selected “no bins” as the reason for littering.
- 70.4 % believing that more bins will lead to less litter.
- 62.5% of beachgoers agree that “no penalty” is the reason people litter.
The coordinating team used a behavioral science methodology to conduct the research, which was spearheaded by Nathan Lee as the project coordinator. “It’s undeniable that we must innovate and find new approaches to solving persistent environmental challenges in St. Lucia, such as beachgoer litter,” Lee said…
