Bajans Love That Sweet Milk – But Hate The Mess
The coconut vendor who calls himself “MAN” is at the crossroads in front of Mia’s new investment every Sunday. Shona can’t watch him but the boy loves to.
He wields his machete not so much like a weapon or a tool but like a hand or an arm. The blade is a part of his body and it is truly wondrous to watch him work. MAN knows a rotten coconut by it’s sound as the blade hits to pick it off the pile. Sometimes he doesn’t even open it to confirm what his ears have already told him.
His half-tent doubles as a bar for locals to talk and there may, just might, be something other than coconuts for sale IF you are known.
MAN always cleans up because it is his corner and he must keep it clean or the locals will complain.
But after he loads up his trailer, where does he take the empties? To Mangrove Pond or merely down some old road?
A warning MAN… Ian Bourne and his boys are on the lookout and they will get you fair and square unless you do what needs to be done.
Fair warning MAN.
PRESS RELEASE: Coconut Vendors Welcome at Landfill even on Sundays – no need for illegal dumping!
The Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) is again appealing to all coconut vendors to dispose of their shells at the Mangrove Pond Landfill every day of the week.
The landfill is open on Sundays for coconut vendors, as the SSA is aware this is their busiest day – Sanitation wants to see the shells at the landfill only and together we help keep this island clean.
Recently there have been instances where piles of shells have been found in many secluded areas across Barbados.
Dumping is a criminal offence that involves a steep fine, time in jail or both – Sanitation invites all coconut vendors to bring their shells Monday thru Sunday to the Mangrove Pond Landfill and keep Barbados clean!
14 Comments
June 9, 2007 at 5:16 am
I think maybe Ian Bourne, the SSA and the coconut vendors need to read my two-parter some months ago about how there need be no waste at all from coconuts and certainly no need to fill a landfill with them:
<a href=”http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=68″ rel=”nofollow”>”Recycling Coconuts I: More Than Just a Vessel for Agua de Coco”</a>
<a href=”http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=69″ rel=”nofollow”>”Recycling Coconuts II: Need Anything Be Wasted?”</a>
**************
BFP to Temas…
Hello friend. Rather tired and a little happy now so I’m heading off to bed. Robert… please do a little post on this and the other one that T sent us in the morning.
C
‘nighty night all!
June 9, 2007 at 11:07 am
No problem making a mess,man.
SOMEone else will come along and clean up after the early-teenage-mindset that create it.
- No problem!
We are a nasty disgusting people when it comes to litter – we have SOoooo much National Pride that we can’t find the freakin Industry to clean up OUR nation
and OUR island….OUR mess that we create.
Besides…the coconut shells provide a home for mosquito larvae…so there’s your silver lining.
Win/win situation, man!
Everyone’s happy, even the pestilent insects that transmit Dengue fever!
June 9, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Anonymous said:
We are a nasty disgusting people when it comes to litter – we have SOoooo much National Pride that we can’t find the freakin Industry to clean up OUR nation and OUR island….OUR mess that we create. /end quote
You are so right. The island is filthy with every sort of litter spread alongside the highways and byways “from Penny Hole to Pie Corner” as the old timers used to say, and it doesn’t seem to really turn a hair on anyone’s head at all. I cringe when I see government ministers, adverts or newspaper/magazine articles etc. talking up “beautiful Barbados” when it is readily apparent that a significant number of Bajans seem to treat “beautiful Barbados” as no more than a 166 sq mile garbage dump.
June 9, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I agree with ioman01,above, about filling what little landfill capacity we have, with nonsense like bulky coconut shells, LAWN CLIPPINGS and roadside clearings done by the Ministry,
when that kinda stuff could be returned to the soil and ground from whence it came!
But no…most Bajans think that landfill capacity is some sorta Endless Resource(like fresh water on this island of rivers lakes and streams,duh!).
Bajans don’t realize they’re sitting on a 166 sq.mi. eco-catastrophe waiting to happen.
There are gonna be lotsa chickens running around with their little heads cut off, when the sand hits the fan some fine day.
June 9, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I see people littering almost every day, why can’t the police arrest some of them. One thousand hours of community service picking up garbage would cure Bajans of their obsession with littering.
June 9, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Coconut fiber can be obtained from the “garbage” vendors leave behind.
Coconut fiber can be used for potting soil, aerate heavy clay garden soil.
Is there a business waiting to happen?
June 9, 2007 at 5:37 pm
“Not Bajan,” that is exactly what my pieces in The Temas Blog were all about. There is now quite a business arising out of using the whole coconut after people drink the agua de coco (”coconut water”) or eat the white mass inside, in Brazil, Mexico, even the Dominican Republic. Believe me, if the DR can do it, so can Barbados.
Keith R (”ioman01″ on WordPress)
June 9, 2007 at 5:43 pm
BTW BFP folks, did you get my email about the Temas post on the Lamberts windfarm proposal? (haven’t heard back a word from you) I suspect there might be more than a few BFP readers interested in the environmental impact assessment of the proposed windfarm and better able to judge its strengths and weaknesses than I.
June 10, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Windfarms?
Barbados should have several hundred ’spinners’ located up and down the East Coast, to take advantage of Nature’s near-constant breeze and wind, but oh no.. they would be unsightly..they would ruin the view..they would chase the tourists.
So. get your priorities straight,nuh.
Which is it?
National prostitution or national energy needs.?
So. we place the ’spinners’ OFF the coastline, maybe up on the hi ridge,nr.hackleton’s cliff,instead
and paint the lower half of the structure green
and the upper half sky-blue
(red-light on top for aircraft nav.haz.warning).
There are SO many solutions if we wanted there to be,
but frankly we LIKE our comfortable addiction to oil-based energy
and have little intention of changing that until Push come to Shove, and we’re still several years away from that.
June 10, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I appreciate the interest and support, we already know about the shells as energy, but it requires time to develop appropriate legislation and spread the word!
June 10, 2007 at 1:08 pm
How about having these mounted on Bajan homes. (I guess to make them economically practical BL&P would have to agree to let any excess power produced be fed back into the grid).
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Design enables use of turbine in turbulent air flows
Silent mast mounting technology eliminates unwanted vibration to building
APPLICATION:
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The turbine safety systems complies with International Standard IEC 1400-2, for the safety of wind turbines, and, if required it can generate electricity in line with Electricity Association Requirement G59 for power quality. The electronic controller has been designed and tested for EMI suppression and is LVD directive and EMC directive compliant.
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June 11, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Those half shells can fill up with water and mosquitos can breed in them.. Coconut man is risking that neighbourhood’s helath.
June 11, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Re: Bajanboy
June 9th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
And a sign while they clean up the garbage. I have disrespected my land by littering all over it.
June 11, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Mr. Bourne, maybe utilizing the coconut shells as energy requires legislation (not sure why that would be so, but I’ll take your word on that), but surely shredding the shells and using the coir to make pots, mats, car seats, etc. does not require legislation — just someone with some relatively low-cost machinery, organizational skills and an entrepreneurial spirit.