DOES SLAVERY STILL EXIST ? 

One day, a beachgoer, on seeing me collect the trash left on Ipanema beach, exclaimed: "Slavery still exists, my friend, didn't you know?" 

Like many others, myself included, he was affronted and indignant about the carelessness of other beachgoers who negligently leave their plastic and assorted trash and scraps of food on the sand of the beach. Such people evidently believe that there will always be someone servile to clean up the mess that they leave behind them.

This reminds me of the time that my black maid saw me cleaning the drain in the washing area of my apartment, removing dirt that had blocked it. She exclaimed: " Oh, Mr. Michael.*  Why are you doing a black man's work?” Shocked, I explained: "This is not work just for black people! I do this work myself whenever necessary." Although she was a negress herself, she showed a deep-seated preconception about the sort of work that people of Afro-Brazilian descent should do.

Maybe the lazy, careless beachgoers also believe that it is not up to them to remove and throw away their trash because that is a servile act. What a disgrace!

The work of the garbage collectors should be merely to collect the trash that people leave in the appropriate trashcans or garbage bins provided. They should not have to comb the entire beach with a rake to remove every piece of plastic and the scraps of food that lazy, careless beachgoers leave on the sand.

* Mr. Michael is characteristic of the way slaves in the deep south of the USA used to address their masters.  Normally, a person would say Michael (if on first name terms) or Mr. Walton or Sir, never Mr. Michael. 

BE A FRIEND OF THE GARBAGE COLLECTORS

On Saturday 26th of May 2012, I got to Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro at about 17:00 and decided to clean up the beach along the waterline from a point opposite Rua Farme de Amoedo up to Arpoador. There was not so much garbage as I had expected. The total amount collected along the waterline was about 35 kilos. On a bad day, it would have been twice that amount at least.

I met a nice young couple from the Czech Republic, who were sitting by the waterside. They were on holiday in Rio and said they were horrified by the amount of trash people left on the beach. They were taking their trash back to the hotel to dispose of it. If everyone took their trash home and disposed of it or threw it in the municipal garbage bins or trash cans, there would be no problem.

When I got to Arpoador, I met two municipal garbage collectors I know: William and Joaquim.  They were performing the thankless task of cleaning up the mess left by beachgoers. The other day William called me the Garbage Collectors’ Friend and said he wanted to tell a journalist he knows to do a report about me in tribute to my efforts. I said that it was the municipal garbage collectors who deserved the tribute not I. Can you imagine what Rio’s beaches and streets would be like without them?  We would be buried under mountains of plastic garbage and trash. We should all be friends of the garbage collectors. We should all throw our trash in the garbage cans or take it home and dispose of it. Is that too much to ask?

One day a beachgoer said he thought the municipal garbage collection service should just stop cleaning up the beaches for a while and let it mount up because perhaps people would then realize just how absurdly wrong it is to leave garbage on the beach.

At the end of the day, this is what the sand looks like at the edge of the beachfront and promenade: 

What kind of impression do scenes like this give of the Cidade Maravilhosa or the Marvellous City as Rio is called? 

On Monday the 21st of May, I expected there to be much less plastic garbage and rubbish on Ipanema beach due to the inclement weather for beachgoers. Arriving at the beach at 18:00, my hopes were dashed as I took in the unsightly spectacle I have to come to dread: the usual plastic cups, drinking straws, plastic bags etc. littering this beautiful beach. The beach had got no respite from the onslaught of garbage left by thoughtless beachgoers. From Casa Laura Alvim to Colegio São Paulo, I collected 30 kilos along the waterline. Along the rest of the sands up to Arpoador and Praia do Diabo, I collected a further 20 kilos, making a total of 50 kilos, including broken polystyrene iceboxes used by beach vendors of beverages. The large volume of tiny polystyrene granules that coated the tide line at Praia do Diabo bore witness to the insidious threat posed by polystyrene. This easily gets into the marine food chain and is extremely difficult to remove. How do I know how many kilos I collected? I use 20-kilo ice cube bags and fill them by compressing the garbage down by punching it. When brim full, each bag weighs 10 kilos or more. I filled and emptied 5 bags into the garbage cans that day. 

The amazing thing is that people often put their rubbish in supermarket bags and then just leave them on or near the waterline where the tide and waves take them into the open sea. All they had to do was walk a short distance to the municipal garbage cans, some only 20 or 30 paces away. This is a good example of the type of garbage left near the waterline:

 Take a look at an ice cube bag and and the type of rubbish I normally collect in such a bag:

OUTRAGE AT THE EVER-GROWING VOUME OF PLASTIC TRASH AND GARBAGE LEFT ON RIO DE JANEIRO'S BEACHES.

Outraged at the ever-growing volume of plastic garbage and assorted rubbish that beachgoers leave on Rio de Janeiro's beaches, I decided to take direct personal action in 2010 and started cleaning part of Ipanema beach along the stretch of sand between the low tide and high tide marks. 

Garbage left along this stretch is taken out to sea by waves and the rising tide before the municipal garbage collectors can collect it at the end of the day. They make a sterling effort but cannot keep up with the volume of garbage simply left on the sand by people. Quite apart from being an eyesore and aesthetically ugly, this garbage is very damaging to marine ecosystems. 

At first, I confined myself to cleaning up the beach in a 20-metre radius around where I would sit. Soon, I extended the range of collection along the waterline from a point opposite Rua Teixeira de Melo up to Arpoador rocks.  About 2 or 3 times a week, I run up the sand to Arpoador, collecting garbage as I go and throwing it in the municipal garbage cans/dustbins. 

On a sunny day in the high season, I collect about 70 to 80 kilos of plastic and assorted garbage along this stretch. The worst points in terms of concentration of garbage are situated opposite Rua Teixeira de Melo and at Arpoador. 

The garbage collected includes the ubiquitous plastic water bottles, plastic supermarket bags, plastic straws and bottle tops, plastic cups, PET beverage bottles, beverage cans, biscuit wrappers, polystyrene food packaging, broken surfboards, broken glass bottles, flip-flops, chicken bones and even syringes (some containing blood), dirty diapers (nappies), condoms and sanitary towels. I use gloves because of the danger of contamination.