Mon Choisy Beach today

Jude - I totally agree - the beach at Tamarin Bay after New Years Eve was also a disgrace - when I walked the dogs on there yesterday there was still rubbish about.

There seems to be a shortage of bins on our beach though.

I am appalled by the number of people that just throw their rubbish down, I was behind a car the other day and they threw out KFC boxes and wrappings, (there was a police car coming in the opp direction so they must have seen)then they turned into the same car park as me, so I had to say something

I just said there are bins in this car park for your rubbish to which they just replied So - I then said where is your pride in your Country - don't you want it to look nice - to which they just shrugged their shoulders.

I know its a big problem here, maybe the Government should do what they do in the UK - and fine you, even throwing a cigarette out of your car window gets a £25.00 fine now.

This Island is known as "Paradise" to many so maybe the education has to start in the schools - litter and dogs!

Hi Rosie, yes litter and stray animals are two very big problems in Mauritius and it is going to take years to fix.  Both issues get me pretty upset but I always try to remember I am a visitor in this country and bite my tongue.  I too have seen plenty of rubbish thrown out of cars even in front of police and they do nothing about it.  I recently saw rubbish thrown out of a parked car in Goodlands right as 3 policemen were walking past they had to step over the rubbish!  I was flabbergasted!

As a child in Australia I can remember a huge campaign on TV, newspapers, billboards and school called "Keep Australia Beautiful".  I don't remember there being a litter problem but there must have been for this campaign to have been put in place, I remember it continuing for a number of years.  These days we have "Clean Up Australia Day once a year" which is a project where hundreds of thousands of people have a major clean up of their local area including parks, beaches, road sides and rivers. It also promotes recycling and acts as and education forum as well.

I understand there is now a similar campaign running in many countries around the world; Mauritius needs to join this and instill some pride in the those doing the littering.

It really is a disgrace and people should be ashamed of themselves. 

I would like to hear the opinions of Mauritians on this issue.

u r absolutely right jude, as a mauritian i have always thought about this problem.........

Having visited all 100+ beaches on the island (no I'm not joking) I can tell you that it's the same all over the island.

The "problem", apart from the littering itself, is that the Beach Authority workers are very effective in cleaning the mess up - so no one really sees all the garbage.

It would be interesting to put the BA workers on strike for a few weeks and see how many of the garbage bandits would actually return to the wasteland they leave behind every other weekend ...

Hi Bepster, I have heard people say that if they put their litter in the bins the BA workers would have no jobs.  That is a very sad state of affairs.  How of the rubbish left in the parks and on the beaches ends up in the oceans?  I think plenty.

Pkshamjhu - you say you have thought about this a lot, what are you thoughts and ideas on possible solutions?

How of the rubbish left in the parks and on the beaches ends up in the oceans?  I think plenty.

Sadly, it's more often the other way around. A lot of the beach garbage come from the ferries and boats dumping their garbage in the ocean, and then it all ends up on the beaches. "marine debris" I think the official term is.

Three words can help fixing it ... education, education, and that other foreign word; education