This just in: it is legal. Maybe. There’s a Belizean named Trevor Miles who has the contract. “Legal” may be a less than concrete term in Belize though and just because someone gave him a contract doesn’t make it legal. I’m trying to find out right now.

I wonder how good a deal the cruise ships get for dumping here than they’d have to pay in, say, Houston.

Legal? I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer (thank goodness). I CAN tell you what it IS though. It’s immoral,irresponsible,arrogant,selfish,and unthinking. It lacks foresight by sacrificing the future of generations to come to satisfy the gluttonous wants of a few today.
I wonder whose palms were greased and what goods and services were not provided to the deserving citizens of Belize to get such a contract for dumping the trash and garbage of these elitist in this beautiful and often naive country??

looks to me like they are putting it in a boat to be thrown in the dump….trash on Belize beaches come from Belize….Belize people throw every thing on the ground,in the rivers,in the ditches and when the rains come it gets washed out to sea….it dosent come from cruse ships

They probably aren’t even allowed to dump it in Houston! And where, pray tell, does Mr. Miles take this stuff? Beyond the reef? Placencia? Does anyone know? Thanks for this Josh…..

Soma — you’re right about Belizeans throwing trash in the street, but you’re dead wrong about the origin of most trash on Bz beaches. It has been proven that it comes mostly from Honduras and Guatemala, especially after big rains, like we’ve had recently.

You didn’t accept that trash from the ” Wasteful Americans” you recieved it from the cruise line company.I’m sure If you polled all the “Wasteful Americans on board that ship they would be just as Pissed off as you are. call it like it is, don’t cast a broad net.

I disagree, Mr. McGhee — how many cruise ships preach conservation over consumption to paying customers who have bought a ticket to indulgence? If cruise ship passengers rose up and rallied to live as simply as possible aboard their floating palaces, and ship companies gave ample opportunity to expend less energy, fuel, and solid waste, that’d be something else, but I don’t think that’s what happens.

However, perhaps this easily visible waste of one cruise ship shouldn’t be judged more harshly than the waste-producing overnight visitors to Belize as well. Our piles of plastic water bottles could certainly be reduced or even eliminated — same with our energy consumption and other ecological footprint issues.

It’s just much easier to see with the cruise ship example.

Good job.Hope that we have more people like u.This should be reported to the Ministry of the envermonent, as they are responsible and not the Belize City Council

I just returned from a mission trip to Orange Walk, Belize with 23 other people and was humbled and inspired by the beautiful people of Belize. Reading this about garbage being dumped there doesn’t surprise me. As Belize becomes more and more of a cruise ship destination, stories like this will become common. I worry about the effect of the massive rich (which is most of us compared to third world countries) will have on countries like Belize. I wonder what Belize will look like after 10 years of growing numbers of tourists and massive money spent there. After spending time with the people of Orange Walk in Belize, living in their culture, visiting the hospitals, orphans, and homes, getting to know the people, I felt sick, when, as I returned to Belize city to fly back home, I observed the cruise ship tourists running around throwing money and taking pictures of the poor Belize natives. It messed me and our group up and we are still trying to sort through it all.

i like the article you have produced to us keep it up please!

are you people so closed minded to think that the cruise ship traffic is not welcome ,no matter what the cost in garbage ( and by the way big cruise ships have their own way of dealing with garbage and it does not include “garbage bags”. GET REAL !

I was recently on the Norwegian Dream, and i had noticed this action taking place in Belize early in the morning. How ever i was think that every cruise line has trash to get rid of. So i belive that we should have other ships come to pick it up to have it burned for bug, plant and other issues like that. How ever i feel that dumping waste in the open waters is so very wrong. If they can not hold the tanks of waste or hold the trash till they get to land they sould close the cruise bussniess.

Just returned from Belize. Found that the reef was the main cause for protection. Doesn\’t all the trash on the beaches effect the reef? I find it hard to believe all the trach comes from Ships or the Belizians. Looking at some of the labels, it comes from other countries. Shouldn\’t this be addressed by someone in this beautiful country?