By Christopher E. Martin
Why do people go to the beach and leave their trash? Do they think it is somebody else’s job to pick up their trash? There is a saying when visiting beaches, parks and common spaces, “take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints”. We all go to the beach and parks because they are beautiful, but not after irresponsible people leave trash.
We all know the government does a terrible job with trash collection and disposal, however, it is the responsibility of each and every person to properly dispose of their own trash. I recently visited Les Grottes in Bizerte, a remote and gorgeous beach by any comparison in the world. The beach is visited by locals, not tourists. These locals take their sandwiches, fruit, beers and whatever and then leave their remains on their beach. How does this make any sense?
Do yourself and everyone else a favor, carry along a trash bag to take out what you take in. By the way (BTW), DON’T TAKE GLASS BOTTLES TO THE BEACH. You would think this would be self-evident where everyone has bare feet, but not so. We all want to enjoy and preserve nature for generations to come.
Oh, and another BTW, Tourism is a significant part of the struggling Tunisian economy. The locals may be used to the trash, however, tourists from Europe are not. If they go to a trash filled beach that smells bad, they will not come back to Tunisia. Greece and Italy have nice beaches too, sans trash!
