The long-awaited Metallica concert that took place this Saturday, November 5th at the National Stadium in Costa Rica, was the main topic of conversation in social media all through Saturday night and more so on Sunday morning, unfortunately, for the wrong reasons.

A concert, of any kind, should be a cultural event, a fun gathering for fans of a particular band, artist or genre, and well, there’s no doubt that the attending public had fun and enjoyed the concert, the problem is that after the concert the scene was embarrassing, the attending fans left behind a mess inside and outside of the National Stadium, trash of all kinds and leftover food created nauseating smells and just a shameful view in La Sabana park.

This is just one example of the serious absence of urban education, consideration and culture; the indifference and apathy of a large number of Costa Ricans (and foreigners) that simply put Don’t Care. Of course, there are those in social media that blame “heavy metal fans”, organizers of the event, or the Municipality for the mess; but Costa Rica cannot turn a blind eye on a clear problem. Yes, of course a large amount of the attending fans are to blame, not because they like heavy metal, but because of their lack of interest; yes the organization has to make sure there are enough trash cans available and along with the municipality they have to take measures to have enough people cleaning up before, during and after the concert, said measures according to the organizing company, Move concerts, were taken, (but were clearly insufficient); this is all true; but the reality of the matter is this is not the first time, not the only time, and not the last time this happens, every time there is a public event, say, concerts, the famous Romeria (a religious tradition in Costa Rica), the Festival of the Luz event, carnivals, parades, fairs, or even just walking down any street in a main city in Costa Rica any day of the week, the problem is evident.

As a Costa Rican I am embarrassed by this, and there’s many Costa Ricans that teach their kids to do the right thing, respect public and private property, have a sense of pride in a clean house, a clean street, a clean community…a clean country, but there’s the other side of the coin, and it seems as though it continues to worsen, contaminated rivers and oceans are the best example of this.

According to different studies in Costa Rica only 0.3% of the total amount of solid trash is recycled. The problem is not exclusive of Costa Rica, in Latin America each inhabitant produces an average of 230 Kilograms of trash a year.

Efforts are being made both by private and public sectors but have proven insufficient; in the meantime, one of the main problem remains that many expect the government to solve each and every problem; the reality remains, that until we become conscious that we are all part of the problem and part of the solution things will not change, at least not fast enough.

The Guns N’ Roses concert is coming up November 26, and we can only hope this situation does not repeat itself.