Rubbish and recycling

5th October 2024

I know not everyone would do it but when we sold the Welsh cottage I left the new owner a little welcome letter …. “This is how the oven works, these are your new neighbours, we hope you will be happy here etc etc but importantly your rubbish is collected on a Tuesday (only every 3 weeks) etc etc”

As we have come to find out there has been no such welcome … so we are on a mission to find out about recycling and when the ‘garbage’ is collected not least because the official bin has to be put ‘kerbside’ so you can see how far someone (Richard) 😜 is going to have to pull it!!!!!

We ask around and our questions are met with raucous laughter. The upshot of which is you don’t know. Hence the official bin and the unofficial bin.

We understand that throughout Barbados everyone has been issued with an official bin and a recycling box. So far so good. Here I hand over to my cousin RP for her local insight.

“Yes, the place is stunning but as we Bajans say ‘out in the boonies’ and boy do they have their hands full – end of retirement and back to work for the Bebbs!!

So to answer the question about what day garbage collection takes place – anyone’s guess – supposed to be Thursday but could be a Saturday or even a Monday – so do I leave my bin out all week in the hope of it being collected? You got it babe!

Many people were so excited with the new bins they used the wheelie one to take their laundry to the ‘standpipe’ (a public pipe in each village for free accessible water) and the recyclable bin to bath their babies! Recycling is not up to speed yet in Barbados!

So Richard will surely get his steps in each day as he wheels his bin to end of their very long driveway and repeats everyday in the hope of a garbage collection!”