The unpleasant smell hits you first, followed by swarms of flies, swirling dust, and grit in your eyes. Finally, you are confronted with a vast sea of trash.
Antigua's landfill site is one location that isn't highlighted in tourist brochures, and it has been overcapacity for more than a decade. Just a short distance away, massive cruise ships tower over the island's capital, St. John's, arriving more than ten times a week. Each ship discharges thousands of passengers eager to explore the island's rustic charm while also offloading considerable amounts of trash—sometimes several tons with every visit.
This year alone, Antigua's landfill has received over 1,200 tons of rubbish from cruise ships, as disclosed by official figures leaked to the BBC. While cruise ships follow international regulations regarding waste and recycling, the surge in both cruise ship and passenger numbers in the Caribbean has led to a massive increase in waste offloaded at local ports. Consequently, this is placing immense pressure on under-resourced local waste management and recycling systems.
"There have been no significant improvements to the way we manage waste over the past ten years," laments David Spencer, a former manager of Antigua's solid waste management authority.
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Since the island's landfill site opened two decades ago, Spencer notes that no new contained waste areas have been established. These are specially lined spaces designed to prevent leakage into the environment. Instead, he explains that new garbage—whether from local sources or from cruise ships—has been piled on top of existing waste, creating a large hill. One current worker told the BBC that the area enclosed by protective sheeting has been full since 2012, adding, "It disturbs me a lot. It's mind-blowing to see the volumes of rubbish." He expressed concern that much of the waste now sits outside the lined area, stating, "You can only imagine the damage to the environment."
The current head of the solid waste management authority, Danley Philip, says plans are underway to transform the landfill into an "efficient waste management system." He admits, "We plan to get technicians with experience to manage it properly because currently, it's really just a dump with very little sorting."
Although Antigua and Barbuda's environment minister did not respond to a request for comment, Philip indicates that government investments in new equipment and international funding aimed at converting old tires into asphalt for roads are on the horizon. Authorities are also in the process of upgrading the landfill's bumpy access road.
The issues faced by Antigua are mirrored across the Caribbean, a region often described as the world's most tourism-dependent. Last year, 33.7 million visitors arrived in the Caribbean via cruise ships, while another 34.2 million vacationed for one night or more. Tourism supports nearly three million jobs and accounts for more than two-thirds of some islands' economies.
Zara Majid, a member of the youth activist group Protect Our Future, emphasizes, "Every piece of waste a tourist leaves behind has an impact, and every choice they make helps not only our present, but our future."
In the Cayman Islands, despite efforts to promote recycling, reuse, and waste reduction, the landfill continues to expand. Locals jokingly refer to it as "Mount Trashmore," with an astonishing 130,000 tons of garbage added last year, according to a Cayman news outlet that filed a Freedom of Information request.
Jamaica welcomed 2.9 million stopover tourists last year, roughly equal to its entire population, making it the Caribbean's second most-visited destination after the Dominican Republic. Despite this influx, Jamaica sends the majority of its over one million tons of annual waste to basic disposal sites, lacking sanitary landfill facilities. However, the government has announced plans to establish waste-to-energy plants.
In Turks and Caicos, local environmental expert Kathleen M... (text ends here).
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