Every year, thousands of Canadians flock to the Dominican Republic for vacation, with the country鈥檚 Ministry of Tourism boasting iconic sights, rich nightlife, and 鈥減alm-studded, continuous diamond white beaches.鈥�
But by the environmental group Parley for the Oceans may have some travellers second-guessing their beach getaways this year.
The video shows a thick carpet of garbage covering the water, with styrofoam takeout containers, plastic bottles and other unidentifiable waste crashing ashore onto Montesinos Beach, not far from the capital city of Santo Domingo.
While plastic garbage floating in the oceans is not a new phenomenon, the sight of so much garbage so close to land has drawn a lot of attention online.
鈥淪eeing this firsthand is absolutely shocking, but what鈥檚 worse is that this is not news in Santo Domingo,鈥� Parley for the Oceans鈥� Carmen Danae Chamorro said in a post on the group鈥檚 website. 鈥淭his situation happens every time it rains heavily.鈥�
The nonprofit is calling the garbage accumulation a 鈥渟tate of emergency鈥� and says they鈥檙e working with more than 500 volunteers from the navy, army, and public works to clean up the affected beaches.
Using heavy machinery and trucks, they鈥檝e collected almost 1,000 tonnes of plastic since July 13鈥� most of which the group says will have to be sent to landfills.
Despite those efforts, they say more plastic arrives on the beaches each day.
Parley says they鈥檒l be working with the government on the island to try and develop long-term plans to improve the island鈥檚 waste infrastructure.
