One of the insights I've gotten from travel is how insulated Americans are from their trash, and by the same token, how little awareness many of us have as to how much of it we create. I put my plastic bags and microwave meal containers and so on in the garbage, and somebody takes it away to someplace where I don't have to look at it. The process depends on so much . . . A population that can afford to, and is willing to pay the fees necessary to take the garbage away, and probably even more importantly, SOMEPLACE TO TAKE IT! Small islands just don't have the acreage for large landfills. Anything generated there has to be hauled off the island, or it stays there.
The Ivory Coast was an eye-opener for me. Garbage was everywhere. Although I didn't understand why the villages didn't designate one spot for dumping (rather than just leaving it wherever) I got a real sense of how difficult the problem of garbage is when you don't have any readily available means of removing it.
This is truly an underemphasized global problem.
The Ivory Coast was an eye-opener for me. Garbage was everywhere. Although I didn't understand why the villages didn't designate one spot for dumping (rather than just leaving it wherever) I got a real sense of how difficult the problem of garbage is when you don't have any readily available means of removing it.
This is truly an underemphasized global problem.
Welcome to the Club! And yes, I believe you seen garbage floating around between the islands. I personally have not seen it there but have seen it when passing between islaands of Thailand and Indonesia. I was just gross at the amonut of garbage boats and tankers were dumping off there decks. I guess in third world countries they don't hold the same values as we about dumping garbage overboard. Moreover, they don't have the wonderful USCG patrolling their shores or area. 
