Dear Sir,

I would like to thank Pat Jeflyn, Lauren Laplante and family for spending their vacation picking up trash at Tobacco Bay. This is truly leaving the park better than you found it.

I am amazed by the amount of plastic waste found at our beaches and parks and in our water.

While it does appear that most of this trash is what the tide has brought in, there is no denying that Bermudians have a littering problem. We leave it at the beach, toss it off the boat and dump it down Parsons Lane.

Hardly a kilometre from Tynes Bay, the latter amazes me, given that public drop-off is available every day, save Christmas.

Fortunately, Keep Bermuda Beautiful scheduled this lane as one of its monthly clean-ups. We are lucky to have Bermudians who spend their time and energy cleaning up after others.

Plastic Tides has a fantastic video on Vimeo showing its 11-day journey paddling around Bermuda and documenting the threat of plastic pollution.

While the primary focus is on the unseen plastic that has entered our ecosystem, it is unsettling how frequently they come across what is undoubtedly local waste.

It is to be hoped that more attention will be brought to this issue with its Devils Isle Round De Island Challenge at the end of May.

The use of plastics is complex; they do make many things possible. However, the ease of their use only seems to enhance their danger.

Too often I have gone out on the boat with disposable plastic water bottles when a reusable bottle would have worked just as well.

Yes, this issue is larger than us. And, yes, plenty if not most of this waste is washed ashore.

However, far too often we fail to clean up after ourselves or actively toss trash in the bushes. People who live in plastic houses ...

Thank you again to Pat, Lauren and family for reminding us to leave the park better than we found it.

Pick up a few pieces next time you’re at the beach.

CAMERON MACDONALD