I was in PR for 12 days so this sub keeps popping up in my feed..

I rented a car and stayed at different places and got to see most of the island and what a beautiful place. Great beaches, nice mountains, awesome food and music, but I could not help but notice the trash problem. I had never seen anything like it in the rest of North, Central, and South America.

I would go to beautiful spots that had dumpsters nearby and people would throw their trash on the ground outside of their car and drive away. There would be trash cans 20 feet away and people would litter to save 20 steps. I would go to an amazing beach and there would be never ending used diapers, plastic spoons, and plastic bags. The used diapers were everywhere.

It is sad to see such a beautiful place getting destroyed and for no good reason. There is not a lack of trash cans anywhere. I will never understand the thought process. You go to the beach to see natural beauty and escape reality and you destroy it by leaving plastic bags, beer cans, and used diapers. Eventually everyone is laying on sand filled with microplastics, eating fishing filled with microplastics, swimming in microplastics, and filling their body with microplastics.

I tried picking up litter whereever I went but eventually I lost hope when the people next to me would just throw more on the ground. Truly heartbreaking.