Watersplash litter: ‘Bins are provided for our customers’

Watersplash litter: ‘Bins are provided for our customers’

People having barbecues around the Watersplash are being blamed for the mess, with meat packets, beer cans and wine bottles being among some of the items being left around the area.

Matt Seymour, group operations co-ordinator for Seymour Hotels – the company which owns the iconic spot – has asked Islanders to take their rubbish with them if they can rather than overload their bins put in place for their customers.

‘The problem is that we are having a lot of people using the bins on our private land,’ he said.

‘The bins provided are for our customers and can deal with the waste that we generate but they cannot deal with waste created by the general public like disposable barbecues and wine bottles.

‘This leads to rubbish being left around the bins which then gets picked up by seagulls and the wind and strewn everywhere and we then get blamed for it.’

Mr Seymour added that he was particularly concerned about glass bottles being left in the area as they posed a safety risk – particularly to young children who often walked through the area with no shoes on.

On Liberation Day, a group of Islanders left one of the St Catherine barbecue areas strewn with bottles, cans and boxes – despite being just metres away from a bin.

The States police later posted a photo of the mess on their Facebook page which was eventually shared almost 800 times and viewed by thousands.

Mr Seymour called on people barbecuing in the area to either put their rubbish in a public bin or take it home with them and that the job of his staff was made more difficult when rubbish was left on their property.

‘We separate our waste and go through it to sort glass and bottles which is not a nice job but it is made even worse when we have to sort through the public’s waste too,’ he said.

‘We have made it easier for customers to buy into the idea of dealing with their waste properly and we have got more bins on our premises than ever before.

‘Everyone has got to play a part in reducing their waste and we cannot just let it slide.’

A spokeswoman for the Infrastructure Department said that they were looking at installing a bin at the site.

‘The manager of municipal services has arranged a site meeting with the Watersplash management to propose placing a large wheelie bin on Watersplash land at the head of the old tarmac access road,’ she said.

‘This would be accessible for people using the promenade and would also allow the department’s vehicles to gain access to empty it. The bin would be placed there during the summer months to meet the extra demand.’

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