Bermuda should ban the practice of dumping old vehicles at sea — and may already be prohibited from doing so under British conventions, an environmental charity has suggested.

Creative solutions to deal with the build-up of cars and bikes at the Airport Waste Management Facility have been shared by various concerned members of the community after The Royal Gazettehighlighted the mountain of mangled metal causing an eyesore and potential environmental hazard.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works and Environment said that the Government was devising an on-island metal recycling programme to address the pile-up, which it said has been worsened by a break in the construction of the containers used to remove the cars.

He said while some vehicles end up “overboard”, the Government “remains committed to high standards of environmental stewardship”.

The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce said the practice of dumping them in the sea spells “a lack of understanding and lack of respect for the environment” by the present and past governments.

The charity called for “dumping metal” at sea to be banned, adding that it may already be forbidden in Bermuda due to the UK being a signatory to two environmental conventions.

They are the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972, and Annex II of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “When they say ‘dumped in the sea’, many people do not realise that they are talking right there at the dump, not offshore.

Read more here: https://www.royalgazette.com/environment/news/article/20250617/dumping-of-old-cars-at-sea-should-be-banned/