Waste Waste Wate Waste Waste And Waste

[pyratt]

Originally Posted by Keith R

Simple solution, but WRONG solution.

And BTW, trash burning also technically is illegal under Dominican law.

Uhhhhh wrong perhaps for you....that styro-stuff melts to a fraction of it's original size. As far as "Dominican Law" goes, burnin a barrel full of trash is nothing a couple hundred pesos to the "responding agency" won't take care of.

Gimmie a match, a wire coat hanger and some marshmellows....the street kids will love me!

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by pyratt

Uhhhhh wrong perhaps for you....that styro-stuff melts to a fraction of it's original size.

I guess the potential health impacts of burning PS don't matter to you.

Just because it can be done, officers can be bribed to look the other way, and the residue is a fraction of the original size doesn't make it a wise option.

[mariaobetsanov]

I been stating this facts listed above and then some. Hill people that move into the city, without changing their mind set. In undeveloped areas such as Africa is the third world, we are in a fifth world country. due to political corruption and development. We are in the eighteenth century, now the time is the twenty-first, even the basic education, is half- as intensive Seven subject are not provided, When my daughter entered kindergarten in the seventies there where computer in every desk in the whole school. Thirty years latter, we have NOT EVEN GOTTEN TO THE TWENTH CENTURY YET.

[kevadair]

Keith, do you think Plasma will be an answer down the road, or do you consider it a form of "clean incineration" that you have previously spoke negatively about.

I'm no expert, but it seems once the trash is that hot, it solves many of the negative results that burning trash leaves behind.

But, I have also heard that one of the toughest parts is feeding your plasma machine a consistent mix and keeping it regularly loaded with waste 24/7.

Do you have more insight into this next-gen of machine?

Thanks,

Kevin A.

BTW, thanks, Skippy, for the complement on my previous post.

[sburns]

After my trip to PuertoPlata/Sosua two weeks ago I was also shocked by the waste strewn around the countryside. The predominant waste I observed on/in the beaches/streams etc. was plastic containers.

Obviously the economic realities of the DR are much different than here but I was thinking there must be a solution that will work.

What if the government mandated a deposit for any containers? Would that be enough incentive for the average Dominican to return the container? Obviously an infrastructure would be required to collect and recycle the containers. Could the collection point be the store where the item was purchased so the deposit could be refunded?

I assume the breweries etc. recycle their beer bottles as we do here in Canada. These are probably picked up by the delivery truck at the bars/resorts but how do the bottles make their way back from residences?

[bienamor]

Originally Posted by sburns

After my trip to PuertoPlata/Sosua two weeks ago I was also shocked by the waste strewn around the countryside. The predominant waste I observed on/in the beaches/streams etc. was plastic containers.

Obviously the economic realities of the DR are much different than here but I was thinking there must be a solution that will work.

What if the government mandated a deposit for any containers? Would that be enough incentive for the average Dominican to return the container? Obviously an infrastructure would be required to collect and recycle the containers. Could the collection point be the store where the item was purchased so the deposit could be refunded?

I assume the breweries etc. recycle their beer bottles as we do here in Canada. These are probably picked up by the delivery truck at the bars/resorts but how do the bottles make their way back from residences?

little guy with a big sack goes through your trash and picks them up and takes them in, or if your nice you line them up outside for him. major containers are foam no way to get a deposit for takeout, and cant be reused any way.

they need to throw crap away in the proper place, not where they are standing or walking or driving

[sburns]

I actually didn't observe much styrofoam where I was. It was mostly plastic pop bottles, shampoo bottles etc. I agree my idea does not easily take into account styrofoam items.

[Keith R]

sburns, the DR had an informal deposit system for decades for glass bottles that worked quite well. When you returned a glass soda bottle to the local colmado, they gave you a couple of pesos off your next soda. The local bottlers would then collect the unbroken bottles (shards not welcome) from the colmados.

But that system has been breaking down over the last 10 years or so. Soda bottlers in the DR are switching to PET -- lighter (therefore better for the fuel consumption of their delivery trucks), and no breakage (something both colmado owners and bottlers like). Also, more and more sodas are being sold in supermarkets (Pola, etc) and hypermarkets, and these larger stores don't want to mess with bottle returns.

As a result, fewer glass bottles, more plastic, and more plastic waste. The DR has no in-country PET recycler that I know of (would be happy to find out differently!), so even if collected it would have to be ground up and exported.

I'm told (hope this is true) that Cerveceria Nacional (brewer of Presidente) still pays for unbroken empty beer bottles bearing their brands, cleans them and reuses them -- which is why the botelleros do what they do. But also have heard that they are test marketing with PET and metal beer bottles in the DR, so maybe that too is about to about to go down the drain...

There are very few deposit/return systems in place in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) -- primarily Barbados and Grenada. Dominica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have all studied doing it, but didn't go through with it. Why? Strong opposition from the major soda companies and their local bottlers, say the local officials off-the-record. There's even recent pressure (from guess who!) to get Barbados to drop their system...