Each side of the island receives ocean debris. The East side is definitely the worst hit, it has the pleasure of bearing the brunt of the prevailing North Easterly winds. These winds bring with them plastic trash from all over the Caribbean. Here you find bottles, lids, plastic buckets, hair clips, flip flops, shoes, shampoo bottles and often larger objects, such as building materials and small boats.
On the North side of the island you will see a lot of bottled beverages, some with the labels still on, this is interesting as you can see almost exactly where products are coming from. We can tell alot of the rubbish comes from Haiti and Jamaica. These countries, like Cayman, have less than ideal waste disposal solutions. When storms hit, any trash that is not secure is going to end up in the ocean and then onto beaches.
7 mile doesn’t get too much plastic on the beach. There are two reasons for this:
- The shape of the island means that this area is protected from the winds blowing from the East.
- The hotels and condo complexes have staff who go out every morning to pick up anything that has come ashore.
With this curated appearance, it can lead to some folks not seeing the real problem. It is only when you get to the other shore lines…
