Taking the phrase ‘being a responsible citizen’ very seriously, Steven Cartwright, organizer of a local group called Bahamas Revisited is leading the campaign in the clean up efforts following last week’s general election.

Mr. Cartwright said the posters littering the island are an eye-soar, and something he has witnessed for himself three elections back-to-back.

“This is my third election that I have been able to observe and every year after the election, posters stay up for so long.

“Posters, billboards, signs, everywhere, they stay up until they rot and they fall on the ground all over the place.

“And, I’ve had enough of it,” Mr. Cartwright said.

In an effort to get the island back to normalcy, post-election, Mr. Cartwright said he along with some another friend decided to take on the initiative for an environment friendly Bahamas while extending the thought to others who wished to volunteer.

“A group of us decided that we would do what we could to cleanup as much as possible.

“I don’t think we anticipate to clean up the entire island, but the goal is to get as many people as possible to clean up their neighbourhoods.

“If we get as many people as possible, then the island would look much better,” Mr. Cartwright said.

Encouraging all Bahamians to be a part of the effort, even in small areas like their neighbourhoods, Mr. Cartwright indicated that he and his team were set to tackle major areas.

“A group of us are tackling the main areas, the highways and the round-abouts.

“We went out yesterday and we had really good support. A lot of independent citizens have stepped up.

“A number of candidates and MP’s have also stepped up and have started cleaning up their areas as well.

“The goal is just to get as many citizens that are concerned about the environment and concerned about pollution to get involved, and there has been a really good response so far.

“We are hoping that in a week or two that all the political signs are down, that’s the goal at least,” Mr. Cartwright said.

When asked whether or not is was just volunteers that were assisting them, Mr. Cartwright noted that for the most part, it was mostly volunteers with one exception from a company known as Public Domain.

“M’wale Rahming from Public Domain has given us 20 of his staff, paying them for the day. It’s like a normal work day.

“We have about 30 other volunteers all over the island, sending pictures as they picked up [stuff] on their way home,” Mr. Cartwright indicated.

Mr. Cartwright is hopeful that in the not too distant future, there will be laws implemented that not only speak to the clearing down of the posters, but a limit placed on the number of posters political candidates can put up during campaign season.

The group ended the first week of their clean up project by clearing down western New Providence, as they met on Blake Road yesterday, finishing off the evening relaxing on the beach.

Efforts by Bahamas Revisited are expected into this week, when the group hopes to conclude their clean-up campaign.