Waste Waste Wate Waste Waste And Waste

[Chirimoya]

No - our mess, our problem.

Well, seeing as Keith is the only person you'll listen to, I'm sure he'll clarify a few misconceptions about exactly what all the 'die hard do nothings' have been up to.

[Skippy1]

Originally Posted by Chirimoya

No - our mess, our problem.

Well, seeing as Keith is the only person you'll listen to, I'm sure he'll clarify a few misconceptions about exactly what all the 'die hard do nothings' have been up to.

I am done with this subject you clean it up in the most etiquette friendly way you like......I am off for another beer and a swim

Skippy1

[Chip]

If you guys want to know what a Dominican would do in this situation it is simple. A group of reputable sizeable business owners or a junta de vecinos would make a complaint to the ayuntamiento. If this falls on deaf ears, they would try to get an audience with a local politiician to get funds. Also, if it is a junta de vecinos, they might also appeal to a big business owner in the area to make a contribution to the clean up efforts.

The funds would be used to pay people to pick up the trash and bring it to an accessible location to be carried off. A more lasting solution would have the ayuntamiento establish a new trash pickup area and the funds could be used to create a block concrete enclosure. This will give the locals a place to put the trash but it doesn't end there. Eduction of the locals is the next step and the most important. This can be done with flyers and "town hall" meetings at the local public club and certainly free beverages and a meal will help. Finally, permanent signs need to be posted in the surrounding areas explaining that trash is not to be dumped and where the trash collection area is to be found.

[Skippy1]

Oh how I wish this was the first response......Chip you have restored my faith in Humanity.....no nonsense solution and action plan

Skippy1

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Skippy1

Sorry but I am not a caring sensitive person to the good meaning but maybe misguided individuals who what sticking plaster clean up solutions.

For the American's amongst us .. sticking plaster is band aids. So, what Skippy1 is saying here, is that he wants to pay attention to the big solutions, not the small ones.

[2LeftFeet]

Thanks for the translation!

[Keith R]

Sigh.

I ask for calm heads and come back to find a fight instead.

This thread has potential, so far largely un- (or at least under-) realized. C'mon people, let's back off spats about tone, what we have for lunch, who's doing and who's not, etc. I have editing and delete buttons and I am not afraid to use them.

FYI, Skippy, two of the people you are fighting with, Chris and Chiri, are founding members of the Green Team. Chris has done alot of work on waste up in Punta Rucia, and Chiri works with an NGO on environment issues (waste among them, if memory serves) and has written on waste issues several times on the GT blog (see, for example, her piece on Salinas Beach on the GT blog). Chiri also wrote a good piece on greening the DR's schools. They can/should be your allies, if both sides take a deep breath and tone down the rhetoric.

Keith R
Environment Forum moderator

[Keith R]

Simple solution, but WRONG solution. Just because it's done elsewhere (and that means ANYwhere), doesn't mean burning polystyrene is safe and correct. To fully understand, I invite you all to read a Green Team post on this very subject posted back in April 2006 (pics, BTW, provided by none other than one of the two ladies Skippy is arguing with here).

And BTW, trash burning also technically is illegal under Dominican law. Probably doesn't stop many people from doing it... but maybe if more Dominicans understood the possible health/environment consequences, they'd cut it back or stop it themselves.

Originally Posted by pyratt

Simple solution:

50 gallon barrel
Charcoal fluid
A match

It's done all over the Caribbean....why are the streets of JARBACOA pristine? I was there for 2 weeks in December. The place is spotless, even in the outlying barrios and fincas.

[kevadair]

The solution to trash needs to be on multiple levels. Yes, in the schools. Yes, in the laws. And, yes, there needs to be market based incentives as well. Ecological waste processing will come to the island someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later. There's a really interesting explanation of plasma technology at Howstuffworks "How Plasma Converters Work"

[Skippy1]

The only real draw back is the cost and getting the critical production balance right.
You need a lot of waste to make this work efficiently.
The storage of the waste while it waits for processing is difficult too.
Plasma does sound like the way to go but early days yet.
Nice post Thanks Kevadair.

Skippy1