Trash and Recycling

[OnMyWay]

Interesting article about a new trash collection system in San Fernando, La Union.  It sounds very workable and I hope it catches on.

http://oceana.org/blog/philippine-city-fighting-ocean-plastic-clever-solution-trash

[Mike J]

An excellent example of thinking outside the box when trying to solve problems.  I hope it continues to work for them and expands to other areas of the Philippines.  As the joke goes; "In the Philippines they practice catch and release fishing.  Each time they catch a fish, they release a plastic bag." 

[Queenie O.]

OMW,

Interesting article--there was just a related article in Cebu Sunstar yesterday that GreenPeace named the Philippines the third biggest ocean waste polluter, behind Indonesia and China being first. They blamed big companies manufacturing the small  plastic sachet/packets of items like shampoo, coffee, soy sauce etc. Unfortunately these smaller portions are only what many folks can afford to buy at any given time. A real dilemma. 

I can't imagine how this San Fernando program works manpower wise on a daily basis. It must work, but I'm not sure how practical overall in other areas.

We have a weekly garbage truck that picks up trash every wednesday. They personally on the spot go through the trash and separate the items to be recycled. Not sure where they go from here, but that is what they do.  Our neighbors were annoyed lately with the garbage collectors on our road  they told us, because they passed right by their houses without stopping in order to get to our house that had more profitable recyclables.  This system might be kind of "hit or miss" I think. 

At least lines of thought are starting to make better solutions to these problems. Better education and systems might help people and areas to do better. I think that often there is a large disconnect here in the Philippines between having a clean and healthy environment, and who is responsible for it.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Jack Peterson]

11 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

Our neighbors were annoyed lately with the garbage collectors on or road  they told us, because they passed right by their houses without stopping in order to get to our house that had more profitable recyclables.  This system might be kind of "hit or miss" I think. 

 Queenie I am not sure it is Hit and Miss, this certainly happens in my Area, We segregate our waste before it goes out recyclable stuff we put in a Dumpster up the Road, which is Emptied nightly, cans and Such we have a guy call every Week and he takes those to Sell

12 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

I think that often there is a large disconnect here in the Philippines between having a clean and healthy environment, and who is responsible for it.

 Not too sure we should even think about putting those things in the same sentence.Years of problems here and other overpopulated and poor countries suffer from Pollution and Health problems but you mention Education and rightly so But Even my 18 year old Daughter will write essays and Reports for her grades on this subject and it's devastating results YET! will still not think twice about dropping Litter (Much to my annoyance)

Where does it Start and where does it Finish (Plague) would be a Finish of course but no end of Education seems to instill in people that it is our own faults but like many things, it is always someone else's fault and Responsibility.

 I often say to my Wife it will take a death for many to wake up 

[Clermont]

This isn't the first time this problem has risen: I remember when I was a young kid we used to have plastic string bags to carry our shopping in, what ever happened to them, maybe an opening for a smart entrepreneurial community or a business venture. At least we wouldn't be using plastic bags for groceries. I don't know if plastic can be melted down and reused as a string type to create the said product. Food for thought in a second world country were wages are minimal.   

[Queenie O.]

38 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Queenie I am not sure it is Hit and Miss, this certainly happens in my Area, We segregate our waste before it goes out recyclable stuff we put in a Dumpster up the Road, which is Emptied nightly, cans and Such we have a guy call every Week and he takes those to Sell

 Not too sure we should even think about putting those things in the same sentence.Years of problems here and other overpopulated and poor countries suffer from Pollution and Health problems but you mention Education and rightly so But Even my 18 year old Daughter will write essays and Reports for her grades on this subject and it's devastating results YET! will still not think twice about dropping Litter (Much to my annoyance)

Where does it Start and where does it Finish (Plague) would be a Finish of course but no end of Education seems to instill in people that it is our own faults but like many things, it is always someone else's fault and Responsibility.

 I often say to my Wife it will take a death for many to wake up 

I agree Jack--we've sponsored seaside cleanups with adults and children in our general neighborhood, but trash still ends up on the ground so easily. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Queenie O.]

25 minutes ago, Clermont said:

This isn't the first time this problem has risen: I remember when I was a young kid we used to have plastic string bags to carry our shopping in, what ever happened to them, maybe an opening for a smart entrepreneurial community or a business venture. At least we wouldn't be using plastic bags for groceries. I don't know if plastic can be melted down and reused as a string type to create the said product. Food for thought in a second world country were wages are minimal.   

Clermont,  I agree with you on that. In the past few months Mandaue City in Cebu has banned plastic shopping bags in favor of canvas bags  because they were clogging up the waterways. It seems from the news that this ban seems to be helping with a lot of the flash flooding on main roads recently. That's a start.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Jack Peterson]

20 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

we've sponsor seaside cleanups with adults and children in our general neighborhood, but trash still ends up on the ground so easily. 

 As we went to the City vets Yesterday to have the Pup castrated we watched the Fire service and navy cadets Start their Monthly Clean up of the Spillway Area of the Bianca River near our House, When we came home in the Afternoon we saw it was still quite messy, When I went down to my watering hole in the Evening I asked the owners Brother ( Fire service) what happened. He told me that there was to be a Squad between each Spillway and /or Bridge to clear But one particular area refused to help saying the Youngster s needed Paying, so as it was a Volunteer thing that Stretch never got cleaned, hence when we arrived the Rubbish had come down the River and had Settled where the others had cleaned. This is I afraid to say, the mentality of some Captains, Greed over Health one really has to wonder at the Responsibility of these Elected people to serve the community properly But it goes further than that, the Mayor should have intervened in my Mind. But this is not new and it is this particular Captain that oversees the Canduay Rubbish Tip that has been Smouldering for some 6 months or more 

[Queenie O.]

8 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 As we went to the City vets Yesterday to have the Pup castrated we watched the Fire service and navy cadets Start their Monthly Clean up of the Spillway Area of the Bianca River near our House, When we came home in the Afternoon we saw it was still quite messy, When I went down to my watering hole in the Evening I asked the owners Brother ( Fire service) what happened. He told me that there was to be a Squad between each Spillway and /or Bridge to clear But one particular area refused to help saying the Youngster s needed Paying, so as it was a Volunteer thing that Stretch never got cleaned, hence when we arrived the Rubbish had come down the River and had Settled where the others had cleaned. This is I afraid to say, the mentality of some Captains, Greed over Health one really has to wonder at the Responsibility of these Elected people to serve the community properly But it goes further than that, the Mayor should have intervened in my Mind. But this is not new and it is this particular Captain that oversees the Canduay Rubbish Tip that has been Smouldering for some 6 months or more 

Agreed. It's kind of laughable too and annoying for us, because we pay people a fair rate for these cleanups in our area, and we hope to be providing a little employment, snacks educating too, but then it dawned on us that they might be dropping trash in our neighborhood in order to contribute to our next cleanup! 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[virginprune]

1 hour ago, Clermont said:

This isn't the first time this problem has risen: I remember when I was a young kid we used to have plastic string bags to carry our shopping in, what ever happened to them, maybe an opening for a smart entrepreneurial community or a business venture. At least we wouldn't be using plastic bags for groceries. I don't know if plastic can be melted down and reused as a string type to create the said product. Food for thought in a second world country were wages are minimal.   

In Marbel there are no plastic bags given out at grocery shops or supermarkets on a Saturday, they do sell Eco canvas bags, cheaply and also plastic string bags, around P10. If customers do not wish to partake of these bargains their shopping is placed in brown paper bags. We take our Eco bags with us every time we shop, including in the market, were we have to tell the stall holder not to put our purchases in plastic bags first but straight into the Eco bag. Some look at me as if I'm mad when I request this, which says to me that much more education is needed for the vendors.

Edited September 24, 2017 by virginprune