Litter
Some more news that shows that the litter and garbage problem is being thought about and talked about...even if nothing is actually done. Having lived in pretty litterific places in the US as well, I wish I knew the secret to making communities litter-free. I am more than happy to relinquish my "right" to throw garbage everywhere if it means I get to live in a cleaner environment. I guess for a lot of people, if it's already trashed, it doesn't make sense to take the extra effort to throw something in the garbage. But there are places where litter is not a problem. What's different there? How do we get to the tipping point where it becomes worth it to keep a place clean?
Council should clean up beach
Monday, February 27, 2006
A FORMER Suva Mayor says the city council has to be responsible for cleaning a major picnic spot in the capital...
Permit system for plastic bottles
Monday, February 27, 2006
A PERMIT system which targets PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate) bottles will be in operation in September this year...
posted by rose @ 8:43 AM
9 Comments:
Eddie has a theory for developing Uni-trash--all items must be able to be reduced to a common reuasable substance. How to gather it all together is a different story.
And the Germans responded so well to recycling that the system couldn't handle it all!
I know the beach you mean as my grandkids go there for picnics. Maybe you could be pro-active in this problem. Check out - are there bins, are they actually used, are they cleared?
In traditional culture, rubbish was just peelings, old woven food baskets that would be discarded and eventually turn back into soil.
I just hate plastic bags and rusty tins on the shoreline. I think some actually are washed into the shore from objects thrown overboard from boats.
W.
PS Our beach in Geelong, Australia is very clean these days because there is a perception that our waterfront and Eastern Beach is a tourist destination and have to be neat!
I guess the broader question I'm getting at is how do you suppose that perception "that we ought to keep the beach clean because it's a turist attraction" came about? I mean certainly the argument could be made that Suva would benefit from having a little beach or oceanfront that could be considered a tourist attraction.
There is certainly too much garbage for me to just pick up myself (which is usually what I'd do and was my first reaction) and I don't think yelling at locals about how they should use the garbage can that's "right there!" would really go over so well. And I'm sure most of the gargabe is washed ashore, not just left there.
I understand the argument that in the past garbage was biodegradable and not really an issue, but that's really essentially true everywhere. In the past refuse was delt with differently, 18th century Europeans just dumped it out the window! It's how it's delt with now that I find so puzzling.
Of course if I knew anything close to the answer I'd be making tons of money on urban development in Baltimore which has many of the same problems, dirty harbor included.
Hi Rose. The lack of awareness and probably laziness results in more rubbish as those who are not ratepayers in the municipality simply dump their rubbish into the sea as that area is not policed by anyone. I have seen a few cars stop and because the tins on the seawall are full, or because people or cars are by the bins, they furtively throw their plastic bags of rubbish into the sea. There needs to be more awareness and coordinated action by the Council to maybe put dumpsters near squatter settlements or somehow enable squatters to dispose of their rubbish with dignity. I have also blogged about this issue.
In Hawaii groups "adopt" beaches and highways. Churches, temples, NPO's, community associations, businesses, etc. And every so often each group has a day where everyone picks up. The county would arrange for trucks to take it to a landfill. But it is a never ending problem.
A true solution would involve getting away from producing and using the things that make up rubbish - especially the plastics. Here in Japan, it is a big problem as everything is over-packaged. Example: why do bananas need to be in a plastic wrapper? Nature already packaged them for us with an easy-open biodegradable wrapper!
Working in the backwoods of Oregon i am always pissed to see a bunch of garbage dumped in an otherwise beautiful and pristine environment.
On the other hand while in the middle of no-where it is interesting to find old abandoned cabins, bottles, old tools, cans, and even old cars with woodrat's nests(huge piles of sticks)in them.
I wonder at what age and quantity garbage becomes interesting.
And does the woodrat teach a valuable lesson?
get a bunch of people to separate the stuff into piles, burnables, plastics, rubber, metals, etc.
burn all the burnables, reuse all the rest for whatever they can be used for. After it is clean work on natural development, plant palms and other trees and plants increase the aesthetic value of the beach.
Regardless of what is done it has to start over from clean. Trash attracts trash, and a clean environment will instill pride to most people.
Apparently there are "clean up the beach days" and the clean beach lasts about a week.
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