Today five communities received garbage trucks courtesy of the Belize Tourism Board. Four of these are Belize's top destinations, and the fifth is the Capital City. It's BTB's way of promoting civic pride and ensuring that both locals and tourists have a clean and healthy community. Courtney Menzies was at the handing over ceremony today and has this story.
Belize will be a little bit cleaner after the BTB donated five garbage compactors to two municipalities and three villages in the west and south. These communities—four of which are the country's most popular tourist destinations—were in need of new trucks. The Minister of Tourism, Anthony Mahler, explained that visitors cite garbage as a major "ick":
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"For us at the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations and at the BTB, the issue of garbage has always been at the forefront. We have led the charge with MIDH and other members and other entities to try to keep Belize clean. In fact, there's a thing called VEMS, the visitor expenditure and motivational survey that I used to do many years ago when I was at BTB, and one of the many issues that come up under the VEMS is the issue of garbage all over the place."
"We have been blessed with wealth untold by God. If you show me another piece of real estate as small as Belize that has the assets and the cultural diversity, you'll be lucky to find one even close. So this is part of our commitment to ensuring that we have a cleaner Belize for all of us to enjoy, for it to be enjoyed by our guests, experienced by our guests, and we will continue to do our part."
Both the southern destinations—Hopkins and Placencia—as well as the two cayes—Caye Caulker and Ambergris—received their own trucks. The area representatives of these respective communities explained that the trucks couldn't come a day sooner since they've been having garbage issues.
Rodwell Ferguson, Area Rep., Stann Creek West
"I have two villages that benefited today, Hopkins and Placencia; they're the two fastest-growing tourist destinations. This by itself will be a precedent that is being set to make sure it reaches all the destinations across the country because tourism is dollars. 48% of our revenue of this country comes from tourism so I really appreciate this. My chairman, my village councils, they are happy because Placencia in particular, their truck was down for the last six or seven months. I had to sit down with Seine Bight and tell them how they can cooperate to make sure that Placencia's garbage is taken out. Hopkins used to take out garbage in a small little open-back truck; now this is very closed up, it looks more presentable when it passes through the village."
Andre Perez, Area Rep., Belize Rural South
"We have been long waiting for this; it was a promise made by our Minister of Tourism and Diaspora, and he made good on his promise by donating these trucks. But beyond San Pedro and Caye Caulker, I'm so happy for all those coastal tourist places and villages that are a part of it. It is a big win, including Belmopan, and it's going to make a big difference. It's a beautiful day today."
And Belmopan residents will soon see more garbage days, alleviating the collection of trash overtaking even the main streets.
Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan City
"When we took over the council in March, there were three compactors. Two of them break down every week or other week, so there's literally only one that is usually in service, and that would have to service the entire city. On occasions like that, we would try to rent a dump truck as an additional vehicle, so having a new compactor would definitely assist us in ensuring that we can maintain the city properly."
"This is the first of three compactors that we're getting. We are also awaiting two additional almost identical compactors that are coming in, and with those four fully functional compactors, we will be able to service the city completely. We will also expand the services to the periphery to have two-day pickups because presently only the central area of Belmopan and some of the north area receive two-day pickups. All other areas are once a week, and we want to offer the same service to the entire city."
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