Trash

I watched the early evening news today January 15,2008 and here are some items that I took note of:
In Naples, Italy. residents are complaining because of trash that remain uncollected for the last three weeks. The City dump has been closed and the government has brought in the Army to help. Some of the City's trash were loaded onto trucks and brought by ferry boat to Sicily. As can be expected, protesters angrily met the truckloads of rubbish. City magistrates are still to decide on whether incinerators should be allowed just so to solve the worsening problem.

In Meycauayan City, Bulacan, a few kilometers North of Manila, Philippines, the City dump was closed down due to incessant complaints from residents. According to the manager of the facility, the 3 hectare dumpsite suffered from little or no maintenance at all due limited funds. As a result of this, the trash remained untreated in the open pits and created a stench that affected the nearby village.

In Davao City, Philippines, at least two houses were crushed when a mountain of trash fell on them. The incident happened in the old City dump. No other details were provided.

Theses events were unrelated and they happened hundreds of kilometers away from one another, but a common thread runs through them. Trash! Unsegregated garbage dumped into landfills. Non-biodegradable materials and biodegradable items mixed and thrown into open pits.

Some problems are brought to light. One, absolute failure to undertake segregation. Two, the inefficiency of landfills. Three, the temptation to resort to quick fix solutions that may bring about greater problems like incineration. Four, lack of government funds for proper garbage disposal.

We need to make a collective effort to come up with solutions to these problems. Unless we do that, the incidents narrated above will be repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated ...

Let Us Start With Paper

I have had enough of the way of the waste. It is time to do things in a better way. Let us start with paper. If only people would learn to segregate paper from all the trash that they throw away, we would be able to reduce the amount that government needs to collect and dispose of by at least twenty percent daily.

Yes, we start with paper. Only paper. We tell this to kids at school, the Moms and Dads who are in their offices, the busy person on the way to somewhere. Let us start with paper. All we have to do at first is to just focus on waste made out of paper.

Don't throw the old newspapers, books, magazines and pamphlets out. Just segregate these and place them on a separate container. Day in day out, leave the paper alone.

Once a substantial amount is segregated and collected, these should be brought to a recycling facility and sold.

We have reduced our waste by twenty percent and earned some cash from the exercise.