jcvdude: Did you know - Cruise ships use Caribbean Sea as a solid waste dump??

Under the current Caribbean regulations, ships can begin dumping garbage, including metal, glass and paper, three miles (five kilometres) from shore as long as it is ground to less than an inch. Almost anything but plastic can be dumped beyond 25 miles (40 kilometres).

Miles from shore in the open Caribbean Sea, cruise ships are dumping ground-up glass, rags and cardboard packaging. But vessels in other waters such as the Baltic and North seas are prohibited from throwing any solid waste overboard other than food scraps.

The difference?

Many countries with coastlines on the world's most fragile seas abide by a United Nations dumping ban that requires them to treat ship-generated garbage on land. Caribbean islands, however, have yet to adopt the ban, saying they simply don't have the capacity to treat ship garbage on shore. They also fear the ban could push ships to dock in less regulated ports of call.

The islands scattered across the Caribbean have struggled to establish a common policy because when it comes to the cruise industry, they see themselves as competitors. Cruise ship arrivals are major economic events, with passengers spending roughly $1.5 billion annually in Caribbean ports. Governments are wary of driving away ships that might find fewer requirements or lower fees elsewhere.

In one notorious example, Carnival Cruise Line withdrew from Grenada in 1999 amid a dispute over $1.50-a-head tax to pay for a new landfill. "Countries haven't forgotten that," said Christopher Corbin, a Jamaica-based officer with the United Nations Environmental Programme. " They are worried that they will get played off against each other."

Plastic bottles, all kinds of shoes and flip-flops litter the coast. We have seen this kind of litter throughout the Caribbean from Dominican Republic to Jamaica. My suspicion is that it comes from cruise ships, especially the footwear, accidentally lost overboard. Plastic bottles and bags should be banned world wide.