Dear editor,
What a heartbreaking sight, the photo of Belair beach on the front page of the Tuesday edition. We like that little strip of beach and we visit it regularly. As a new comer to the island, we live here since August 2025, we had to get used to a lot of things. For instance that waste is (not) managed on the island in a way we are used to. There is garbage everywhere, dumped cars alongside the roads, car engines growing in gardens, lots of overgrown construction waste, a very large mountain of waste in the middle of a pond and very little public containers and waste bins. And no awareness…
So the first time we visited this little beach I was shocked to see the piles of concrete, tiles, metal parts, piping and household waste and I wandered if this site was actually a government appointed site to dump construction waste. I could not believe that companies and citizens use this area as an illegal dump site.
Luckily nature is sturdy and without a plan so a lot of the rubbish has been over grown by nicely flowering plants and infested by curious little animals. A group of concerned people have put up colourful signs with texts like: ‘Don’t litter’, ‘Keep the beach clean’ and ‘Litter paradise’. I have read somewhere that they even organise clean-up days to remove plastic from the beach to keep our oceans clean. Very good initiatives!
To me it seems the general public has no environmental responsibility so, this needs to be addressed by our government. Of course, a clean-up operation of the whole area will be very expensive and would take a long time so, I would suggest to start small. For instance by stopping the site to be used as a landfill. By placing several , ‘No dumping signs’ with legal consequences such as fines at the entrances of the beach, it will be clear to everyone that it is illegal to dump here. To engage the public a phone number and QR code could be added to the signs to report offences. Also by installing cameras with license plate recognition the detection of violators would be easier.
A long-term plan has to be made of course. It should also take into account the ‘why’ there is an illegal dump. Maybe there are not enough legal possibilities to discard waste responsibly? And what will happen to all the waste when it will be removed, can it be recycled or perhaps reused on the same site to build a Nature Awareness House where we can learn about the natural wonders of our island?
Klaasjan Kok
