Letter: Barrington Beach would be better with barrels

Posted 5/12/18

To the editor:

During Rhode Island's beautiful summers, do you make the 45-minute trip to the Newport beaches once a week? The beautiful scenery, the luscious sand, and the clean ocean, are so …

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Letter: Barrington Beach would be better with barrels

Posted

To the editor:

During Rhode Island's beautiful summers, do you make the 45-minute trip to the Newport beaches once a week? The beautiful scenery, the luscious sand, and the clean ocean, are so inviting when there is little to do at home in Barrington.

Well, as all Barrington residents know, we have our own beach. If you think about it, why do our residents make the long haul to the Newport beaches rather than make the simple 10-minute trip to our town beach?

I believe that it is because our beach is rather unpleasant because of the rough sand and foggy waters, which are both littered with trash. Removing this trash would clear both the sand and water, and make our town beach more welcoming. 

I believe we should implement recycling and trash barrels on Barrington Town Beach and RISD beach in order to promote beach cleanup. 

Growing up on Barrington Town Beach, I have had the privilege to explore the beautiful area that I am surrounded by. Always playing in the sand, swimming in the water, taking my dogs on walks, going for runs; the beach has been a big part of my life. Yet, as I've grown up living on Barrington Beach, I've noticed there has always been trash everywhere. I remember in 2010 when there was a big storm, the water washed up in my yard. I was 10 years old at the time, and the trash that had washed up was a danger to myself and many others who walk along the beach regularly.

If recycling barrels were implemented at the beach, many residents on their beach walks could pick up garbage and then dispose of it in the correct barrel. If our town beach is trash-free, we can come together as a community. Our beach would be more inviting with no trash, especially to other residents from other towns. 

I recently visited San Juan, Puerto Rico, after their devastating hurricane. I noticed that an organization had implemented these recycling barrels on one of their beaches. They were labeled plastic, glass and paper. My friends and I took a walk down the beach and we were driven to pick up trash after we had seen these barrels. 

Hoping to inspire residents of the Town of Barrington on their regular beach walks, I believe recycling barrels will help reduce the trash waste at our beach and make it more attractive.

Although some people may think that this implementation of recycling barrels at our beach would backfire, recycling barrels would be beneficial to the health of our beach. Backfiring in this situation would mean that there would be more trash with more trash bins implemented. So, some people believe taking away trash bins will promote less trash, as people will dispose of the trash themselves. Every summer, Barrington Town Beach sells snacks and refreshments at their facility and parking lot. Because of this seasonal snack bar, there would be a trash bin around no matter what. By putting these recycling bins near this busy spot, it will motivate people to throw away their trash and recycle the trash on the beach.

Barrington Beach has been cluttered for many years, and it's about time we clean up our beach. With our family-filled town, we deserve to have a fun and inviting beach for everyone. This means our sand should feel and look nice, as well as our waters. It's about time we help clean up our area and make our town beach clean. 

By implementing the recycling barrels at both ends of our beach, we can reach this goal by motivating beach goers to pick up any litter and garbage they see as they venture along beautiful Barrington Town Beach.

Parker Kirkwood

Barrington

Parker is a student at Barrington High School. 

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