A call for tourists to bring away their trash from St. Martin Island without dumping
‘Tourists on The only coral island in Bangladesh, St. Martin, have not to leave the dirt and garbage that they have on the beach to bring back to the mainland without damaging the environment’; the call was made by an organizer of the Beach Cleaning Movement.
Muntasir Mamun, Bangladesh’s country coordinator for the Ocean Conservancy, made the call after a clean-up operation on the island’s beach on Friday, December 18, 2020, as most tourists do not comply, despite having a designated dumping ground.
About 550 volunteers took part in the clean-up in the program. Among them were about fifty volunteers from different classes and professions from Dhaka. Besides, about twenty surfers from Cox’s Bazar took part in it. A large number of locals come on behalf of the students of St. Martin BN Islamic School and College. More than 400 local students also took part.
On Friday, December 18, 500 volunteers took part in a clean-up operation at St. Martin’s Beach, Coral Island. Eight hundred eighty kilograms of garbage was cleaned till noon. Organizers say they will take all the garbage to the mainland or off the island.
The clean-up program is being conducted around the world as part of the 35th International Coastal Clean-Up, an initiative of Ocean Conservancy. This was the 10th event in a row in St. Martin. The co-host of the event is the world-famous Coca-Cola Company. Members of the Bangladesh Coast Guard were responsible for security at the event. The slogan of Coastal Clean-up was ‘Pick It Up, Clean It Up, see the change’.
Later, Muntasir Mamun, Country Coordinator of Ocean Conservancy Bangladesh, the organizing body, said, “Each place has its own natural capacity to accommodate the number of people and pollution in that place.
“If you think about it, there used to be a ship here. Now comes 8-9. Even if 5-6 hundred people come on each ship, now 4-5 thousand people come.
“We bring some of our stuff here, some come here and use them, eat food, and buy some things again. These are the wrappers that we leave here and there without throwing them in the dustbin. This small place doesn’t really have the capacity to hold that much garbage. ”
This year, in a clean-up operation, volunteers removed 1,170 kg of plastic waste from the beach. “We have to throw our waste in the right place or take it back,” he said. Otherwise, there is no way to keep St. Martin clean. ”
Samia, a fifth-grade student at St. Martin’s Girls’ Madrasa, also joined the campaign to clean up the beach. When asked she said, “People have been given dustbins to keep places clean. Why don’t they throw it here? I don’t really like it.
“They should throw rubbish in the dustbin at the right place. Or take a piece of polythene and throw it away if they find a dustbin in front of them. ”
Later He said, “We carry out a cleaning campaign once a month. But due to a large number of tourists, we can’t maintain cleanness. “There are dustbins with just a short walk away, but people throw dirt randomly. But they don’t throw it in the dustbin. ”
He said, “5-6 thousand people come daily. In fact, 80 percent of them are unconscious. We have to think about how to make them aware. ”
