Doyle urges ‘potty training’ for some Carbonear residents

Some people in Carbonear are flushing items down the toilet that they shouldn’t.

That’s according to members of council, who were last week in receipt of a complaint from a resident regarding the state of the beach — particularly in regard to things washing ashore that had apparently been flushed down toilets first.

“I think the Town of Carbonear needs to do some public service announcements on what people should be flushing down the toilet,” said councillor Danielle Doyle. “There’s a lot of things over on that beach —like blue tampon applicators, the beach is full of them. And those are not things that should be flushed down the toilet, nor disposable gloves, and stuff like that.”
Doyle pointed out that such garbage should not be going into the ocean.

Deputy Mayor Sam Slade said the matter had been discussed at a Public Works committee meeting.

“To make a long story short, there was a resident who made a complaint about the condition of the beach,” said Slade. “We have a Worlds Ocean Day coming up very, very soon, and hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to clean up some of that debris.”

Slade admitted there’s enough trash in the water for the waves to bring in a whole new batch of detritus after the cleanup.

“So, it’ll be ongoing, but we’ll do whatever it takes to keep the beach clean,” he said.

Doyle responded to the effect that cleaning up the beach is one thing; educating people about what not to put in the toilet is another.

“The more important part is the education piece, because if people stopped flushing those things, they won’t wash up on the beaches,” she argued.

Town Manager Cynthia Davis said Doyle’s suggestion could be added to the committee agenda for further review.