Editorial comment – Get rid of the filthy habit

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Lautoka’s Churchill Park Carnival Grounds was an eye sore yesterday with mounds of trash was littered across the park. Picture: REINAL CHAND

LAUTOKA City Council workers were busy yesterday, clearing rubbish left in the wake of the Farmers Carnival at Churchill Park.

It was a scene that was a far cry from the green city tag for the city.

Plastic bottles, takeaway packs and leftover carnival food could be seen all over the deserted park where LCC workers cleaned up under the Western heat.

Business stalls were packed with rubbish not cleared by owners while barbecue stands were stained with grease and stale egg shells.

LCC CEO Jone Nakauvadra said the issue was a reoccurring problem for the council.

“The problem there is no civic pride,” he said.

“People come and just throw their rubbish anywhere they please. We are doing our best to keep the city clean and when it’s festival season, we expect people to be more responsible.”

That’s the harsh reality of life now.

Many of us have developed a throw-away mentality.

We use, then throw away food containers, straws, cups and plastic bags. Ideally, we should be minimising our usage of plastics and other disposable containers.

But when we do use them, the ideal end action should be proper disposal in rubbish bins that should be provided and easily accessible around festival venues.

The reality is these are available.

The unfortunate bit is that many of us do not use them for various reasons.

It is the filthy act after usage that we must police and get rid of.

As Mr Nakauvadra said, stall owners have to dispose their rubbish properly and members of the public needed to use the rubbish bins available to them.

He said something else that made a lot of sense and must be driven into the minds of many people.

If you don’t see any bins nearby, you can always hold onto your rubbish until you find a bin.

Surely that’s not going to be too heavy for you.

He said contractors tasked to clean the park had been given two days to clean out the waste.

That’s the sad part in this annual cycle.

Thousands of people look forward to such carnivals, they enjoy their time there, and they dump their rubbish like it’s nobody’s business.

We do this when we are inconsiderate, selfish and have no respect for our environment, our city or town and for people who are later tasked to clean up after us.

Many of us put on good clothes, take our friends and loved ones to enjoy the sights, the rides, and entertainment and to just have a happy day or night out.

We spoil all that with our inconsiderate filthy habit of littering.

We should be ashamed of this filthy habit.

Let’s be responsible and lead by example.

Let’s dispose our rubbish properly.

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