The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

BEER bottles, soda cans and plastic cups were some of the trash revellers left on Rose Island after partying there over the weekend, angering guests and business operators.

A video sent to The Tribune showed garbage littering a beach as tides swept trash into the ocean.

Kai Miller, a charter boat operator, called the situation unacceptable.

“It’s a complete mess,” he said on Monday. “My problem is, I bring charters up to this portion of Rose Island on a daily basis so we try to keep the beach as clean as possible. But the state that they left that beach in is completely deplorable; it’s like they took no garbage with them.”

People complained about garbage on the beach after a party hosted by Papi’s Lounge, a restaurant on East Bay Street that billed the gathering on Facebook as an “Easter Sunday Sail Away.”

A company representative denied their group left the beach deplorable. However, he admitted they did not take the garbage to New Providence and instead piled the trash “to be collected.” The largely uninhabited island does not have a waste disposal system.

“Individuals that came over to the island that weren’t a part of our event were stranded,” the representative, who declined to give his name, said in a Facebook message. “We made sure that everyone was off the island safe (Sunday), which took a few hours. The beach was then cleaned once we were able to return. Our trash from the event was all picked up and put into a pile to be collected.

“There are a lot of speculations going around that we are aware of. But we aim to do things the right way.”

The videos of garbage were taken on Monday morning.

“Empty bottles, garbage bags all over the beach, bottles and cups thrown all over the place, empty liquor boxes all over the beach,” Mr Miller said.

He said the beach is near someone’s property.

“The person that actually owns the property now is in the process of clearing it down,” he said. “And he looks like he’s doing a beautification process up there. And it looks bad on us, all of us that go up there, for the beach to be left in such a state.

“At the end of the day, if the gentleman that owns the property comes and says he doesn’t want you on the property, what are you going to do? You can’t expect him to pay someone to come and clean up after you.

“Those of us that go up there on a daily basis, we don’t have an issue with the people coming in, because, once again, it is always known as a public beach. But the people that come up, they have to understand that there’s no garbage truck that comes up there. So, when you come up and you bring your garbage, you have to take it with you.”

When he was interviewed on Monday, Mr Miller said he and other charter boat operators were trying to figure out how to clean the beach.

“We don’t know who to contact that’s the problem,” he said. “I don’t know who we need to contact or what we need to try to get it cleaned up, but it needs to be cleaned up. Several of us are in that process.”