Trash & pollutants

This working group is intended to promote responsible disposal of trash, as well as restrictions on sunscreen.

Interested to get involved? Fill out our working group interest form.

Trash:

The responsibility for keeping our beaches clean belongs to all of us. Please do not litter! Trash can easily wind up in the ocean, harming turtles and other sea life, or get stepped on by barefoot beach-goers. If you see litter, please help by picking it up and putting it in one of the many garbage cans/trash barrels located at Magens Bay.

You can reduce waste by using refillable water bottles rather than single-use bottles, which often end up in our waters. VICS has installed a water filling station at the concessions, located between the restaurant/grill and the gift shop.

The Beach Bar briefly had a recycling receptacle, and we hope to have recycling throughout Magens one day. In the meantime, clean plastic bottles and aluminum cans may be taken to The Market Saturdays 9-11AM for recycling [recycling info].

Friends holds informal trash cleanup walks most weeks, usually on weeknight evenings or possibly weekend mornings. Check our calendar.

Glass bottles, latex balloons, confetti, plastic streamers, and generators are not allowed at Magens Bay. Virgin Islands businesses may not provide plastic drinking straws.

Smoking:

Smoking is not allowed "from the tree line to the water" and should only be done away from other beachgoers. Cigarette butts – once fully extinguished – should be thrown out in the trash, not left in the sand.

Sunscreen:

Sunscreens containing reef-damaging oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene are not allowed in the USVI as per the 2019 "Toxic 3 Os" sunscreen ban. A list of some allowed mineral-based sunscreens (zinc oxide or titanium oxide) can be found at Island Green Living. Apply sunscreen well before entering the water to prevent them from washing off. Additionally, spray sunscreens should only be applied in designated areas away from people, animals, fruit trees, and the water.

A good alternative to sunscreen is to wear sun-protective clothing instead; it is faster to apply and lasts longer than sunscreen, and it also offers protection from insect bites and jellyfish stings.