Thinking Outside the Box on Waste & Recycling Issues in the DR

[Keith R]

You know, I'm frequently told that the waste issue in the DR is nigh insolvable and the likelihood of finding and fostering economically viable recycling projects -- let alone those that generate employment for the poor -- is slim to none. The naysayers have a long list of arguments you're probably familiar with -- poverty means no interest in protecting the environment, cultural mindset, recycling is uneconomical, yadda yadda yadda

Then I read something like this story about an innovative project started by a poor community in Rio's north side, and I think to myself why not in the DR?

You may not be able to follow the Portuguese in this article, but the pics should give you the gist. The poor folks with an innovative idea formed a co-op and are now making furniture out of empty used (but cleaned) plastic (PET) soda bottles! And the furniture is durable and selling pretty well...
http://www.ecopop.com.br/frame.asp?u...foid=136&sid=2

I'd like to invite DR1ers to suggest their own unusual, innovative and/or "thinking outside of the box" ideas to tackle the DR's various waste issues, and/or promoting recycling.... Besides worm composting, that is, since we've already covered that extensively in a prior thread!

How's that for a way to start 2005 in the Environment Forum?

[dontuseEltour]

I was in spain over 20 yrs ago and youcould take your empty glass bottles to the supermarket and they had a machine that payed the deposit on size /weight/color wonder if this kinnda thing would work in DR damn it would prolly work here in the US wonder why it's not used other places.

[Criss Colon]

and of "WORK",was by collecting and re-cycling bottles and cans!When he was about 5 or 6 years old,we would make the rounds of parks and playgrounds,and collect the "empties'.We initially took them to a "Re-cycling Center",but later started puting them in a "machine" at the supermarket that would "grind" them into aluminium "flakes",with a loud "Crunch" that we both enjoyed!!A slip would be generated,and the "Service Desk" would pay you that amount in cash!! We used the "cash flow" to buy things, and do things that we both could enjoy together!
My son just graduated from the Univ.of Massachusetts with a degree in "Economics"!He is 25 years old,but he paid all his own way through school.He paints houses,goes to school full time,and gets scholarships and grants!His goal is to get his Phd.,and I think he will reach that goal!

Since Dominicans ARE motivated by money,and can relate to "Bring in an emply beer or soda bottle,get a peso for each one!" I think that making Beer,wwiskey/rum andsoda containers re-cyclable would work here.Make that "Could" work here,EXCEPT that they would soon learn how to Defraud the system!It would go broke,and things would be back to "Normal"!

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by dontuseEltour

I was in spain over 20 yrs ago and youcould take your empty glass bottles to the supermarket and they had a machine that payed the deposit on size /weight/color wonder if this kinnda thing would work in DR damn it would prolly work here in the US wonder why it's not used other places.

It's known as a reverse vending machine. In fact, it is being used increasingly in Brazil. The leading provider of such machines is a Norwegian company called Tomra [www.tomra.com]. Four years ago when I met a Tomra person at a conference I was speaking at, he asked me if I thought Latin America & the Caribbean would be a good market for their machines. Then I was skeptical, since at that time there were only a few small nations with formal deposit systems left (Barbados, Grenada) or considering it (Belize, Dominica). But somehow they have made a success of it anyway in Brazil, primarily by allying with the large supermarket chains and focussing initially on aluminum can take-back, since aluminum scrap sells at a such a high price countries with no local recycling capacity for it can still sell it for export to recyclers abroad at a profit... Now, with Uruguay just adopting a mandatory packaging waste system, Argentina considering it, and Brazil, Mexico and Peru seemingly headed that direction, I'm thinking they might be foresighted....

[Keith R]

What I like about the Rio example I mentioned in the OP is that (1) it does not require expensive infrastructure in place, like reverse vending machines, crushers, grinders, etc.; (2) it does not require a local recycler to buy the product and convert it through chemical processes into something else; (3) it employs the poor, giving them not only work but pride in product; (4) it gets the people to collect those plastic bottles while plugging money back into the local employer rather than the pockets of some middleman who turns around and sells it at a substantial profit to a plastc recycler in Sao Paulo hundreds of miles away...

In another post a few months back I mentioned another experiment in recycling thes plastic bottles where an engineering college was finding ways to incorporate them into the construction of low-cost housing.

That's sorta what I mean by "thinking outside-the-box." Things that don't require some big physical investment from a foreign company or rich local and provides a chance for common folks to get tangible employment, money, pride etc out of it while doing something good for the environment.

[Chris]

Keith, your question kept me going for the last two days. The problem was that there are just so many ideas in this field, and so few that is economically viable, bring pride to the community and require a small investment only...

Here is an interesting glass re-use method that has some of the same characterics as the PET bottle recycling...

http://www.tve.org/ho/doc.cfm?aid=1522&lang=English

Also, there are some interesting possibilities with making brikettes (sp) from rice husks and new design of stoves that burn these - for rural use.

What I'd be really interested in (and this takes lots of money and input from those big corporations) would be building/creating an ecotown somewhere in the DR. There is one in South Africa and one in Brazil that could be blueprint material.

Another idea - I've seen fields of the plants that they use to extract the aloe vera gel - I'm sure those leaves are fibrous - and would love to have the time to figure out how to dry the fibers and make rope shoes and other craft type stuff out of it.

One last one - PET is almost an unlimited 'building material' and can be recycled over and over again. The recycling process is quite easy once the initial type separation is done. I would love to have time to figure out how to more with it.

Now if anyone wants to lock me in a room with highspeed and telephone for 6 months I'll come up with at least 100 community oriented business plans. Where I come from, many of these project type things exist, specifically a bio-dynamic farm staffed with folks where the IQ is not high enough to function in normal society. Nevertheless it is a wonderful place to visit and they make the best cheese ever. Good community work balanced with self-sufficiency. They have a basic 3 x times rule - If something cannot be used 3 times and then safely disposed of, they don't do it.

I have to add one last idea - fruit drying - we have an abundance of fruit and it is seasonal - dried mangoes, dried banans - dried platanos etc etc. There are examples of low-cost drying plants.

[Keith R]

Thanks, Chris! Glad to see I got at least one person's wheels turning!

[Chris]

Now, now, not so fast... the wheels are always turning here !!

Something interesting in our family, my dad-in-law holds a doctorate in chemical engineering and has worked and lectured all over the world in utilization of petro-chemical byproducts. He still holds patents to processes that he developed in the early days of our modern plastics industry. He worked in India, Sweden, Russia and a number of central and south American countries setting up industry to utilize byproducts of petro-chemical processes.

As a family, we're kinda involved in re-use issues as we always give my dad-in-law a hard time - the question to him, usually is -- if you could have foresaw the trash problem, or the future, viz-a-viz xxxx, would you have devoted so much time and energy to develop this process to make that product and thus thus spawning the plastics industry, or would you have been a tree-hugger?

Kinda unfair, as he is 92 and still on top of his industry as much as he can. He taught me about PET and PET recycling processes when I went looking for containers/bottles for our body care products. Some people are larger than life, and my dad-in-law is one of those... He made us aware!

[Keith R]

Very, very interesting Chris. Would love to have a long chat with your father-in-law about plastics and petroleum byproducts. Well, and with you about a number of issues, for that matter. You sound like a very interesting lady.

PET is very recyclable, yet not recycled as much as it should be. Ironically, one of the highest PET recycling rates in the world right now is in Brazil -- much higher than the U.S. or the European average (before I get attacked by our Euro friends, please note I said average)... Brazil is also now the world leader in aluminum can recycling. What always makes those factoids more interesting to me is that PET and aluminum cans were almost unknown to the Brazilian packaging market in 1990! Contemplate that for awhile, guys...

Yeah, yeah, I know! The DR is not Brazil! But I see countries roughly the size of the DR and even smaller now trying to make a serious go of tackling their waste problem, so why not the DR? Part of the fundamental difference to me between a Brazil and DR is not so much infrastructure, market size, etc., although those are all clearly important. It's the difference in attitude! The Brazilians see possibilities, and try to find their way around problems, and tend to believe that, with enough willpower and creative thinking, they can "find a way" [dar um jeito] My observation from 18 years of interaction with Dominicans (including four years living there) is all too often they dwell on what they think they can't do or a thousand reasons why they shouldn't bother...I think this attitude can be changed, but it will take a concerted effort from people who shape Dominican opinions (and I'm not just speaking of politicians!)....

oops! sorry! I'll just get off my sopabox now...

[StarFlower]

Hey! You spoke of drying local fruits. Do you know of any organic WOOF Farms on the island??
Willing Workers on Organic Farms
Farms that you volunteer your help at in exchange for room & board.