Our houseguests were surprised by the trash washed up along the southern east coast.

For a clean island, this is a disconnect. What can we do?

....... clean it up..........

Point the finger at Hugo Chavez.
And Mel, welcome to the W.W.B.T. (wacky world of Bonaire Talk..where everyone has a differing point of view on just about everything).

Welcome to BT Mel. It is important to realize that the trash on the east coast could have and probably did come from just about anywhere, tides, currents and winds being what they are.

This year in New Hampshire several people's houses were washed away by spring floods, I wonder if some of that flotsam ended up in Boka Lagun.

Cecil, not likely. Bonaire is not downstream or downwind from New Hampshire (flotsam is affected by both).......

sounds like a good job for work release prisoners

You just never know Mel rubber duckies and nike sneakers have made some amazing sea voyages.

Fid, makes sense to me.

NEXT PROBLEM!!!

Right, Cecil, but none of those amazing voyages have gone against the wind/currents! If you ever get a chance to hear one of Curt's presentations, do it; he is fun and engaging.

I have always thought Prisoners would be great at cleaning up the east side. You know guys like Vander Sloot?

The problem is not unique to Bonaire. Every West Indian island accumulates plastic trash on its east coast, thanks to the trade winds. It's usually visible in the form of flip-flops, bottles, plastic packaging, any plastic that floats. It's almost immortal, as it doesn't biodegrade. It photodegrades in sunlight, but this only breaks it down into smaller particles, that still float. In the central North Pacific where a counterclockwise current has a vortex effect, the plastic accumulation covers an area hundreds of miles in diameter and is said to have a total weight of about 100 million tons.

There's nothing to be done about it, so maybe we should just treat it like a curiosity that tells us about lifestyles in other countries.

I've always thought that the best solution was the sculptures/creations/conglomerations that we see along that coast sometimes. At least they make me smile, and loose trash doesn't.