promoting recycling

Contamination and garbage management are two huge issues here in Arenillas. A part of the problem is lack of resources, but a larger part of the problem I think is just lack of knowledge and concern for the environment. It still amazes me how people will walk down the streets and as soon as they are done with their drink or food in their hands, the bag or container just magically slips from their hands to the floor. It is almost like an unconscious action as it has become such a conditioned social norm. People also frequently burn their garbage on the street or dump their garbage on the highway or in green areas. Now, although the lack of awareness and environmental concern is one part of the equation, one also have to realize that an adequate garbage management is nearly impossible with the resources the city hall has. Arenillas produces around 20,000 tons of garbage a day, but only has one garbage truck to serve the entire county and its 31,000 residents. There are also areas where roads are in such poor conditions it´d be hard for the garbage truck to make the trip. So logically between these two parts of the equation, this is a serious issue.
For the last 6 months or so Ian and I have been preparing a recycling program here in Arenillas. We started with a pilot program in two schools, each went decent. I think after 6 classes on recycling and the environment, kids at least started getting down the correct answers when we asked what is recycling, what can you recycle, and how can we take care of the environment. But it really took doing recycling competitions and giving out prizes to get the kids motivated, and unfortunately once the competition ends they assume recycling does as well.
Although recycling won´t solve the problem, it is a good step in the right direction at least. After all they say 80% of the waste we produce in our houses is recyclable or reusable. And it makes sense, what do we have in our garbage cans that is not plastic, aluminum, glass, cardboard, paper, or organics reusable in a compost? And even if people treat the recycling bins as garbage cans, that´s ok, at least the garbage is ending up in cans and not on the street (right now there are few public garbage cans around the city).
We are now getting ready to launch the recycling project (officially called the Program for Recycling Urban Waste) after many months of paperwork, meetings, and talking. A local resort has donated 30 sets of recycling bins, each set has three bins: one for organics, one for paper and cardboard, and one for plastic, aluminum, and glass. The organics will go to the tree nursery to make a community compost, and the recyclable goods will be left outside the garbage dump for the workers to utilize (there are a few families who work in the garbage dump, sorting waste to find recyclable materials so this will hopefully minimize the time they spent in the garbage dump).
We have started giving our workshops to promote the project in select areas around town and in schools. We also have some great looking posters and brochures. The only thing we are missing now is the recycling bins, still waiting to be repainted. Hopefully these get repainted before 2011 (only two months away!). I think that is a reasonable goal now a days. Once they are painted we´ll have the bins in 30 public locations and we´ll fully launch the program.
To start promoting the idea of recycling in the community, we convinced the office that we should walk in the big parade during the festivals this week. Now, neither of us have participated in one of these big parades so we had no idea what to expect. With our coworkers we made these great foam recycling bin costumes and signs to put on our boss´ truck. Then we put the set of recycling bins in the truck.
We may not have had the best decorated truck, but I don’t think anyone else had as good of a message or as creative as outfits as our group, I mean who else was dressed as a recycling bin? Our boss´ 2 yr old granddaughter wore an adorable outfit made out of all recycled goods and rode on top of the bins. Now, who wouldn’t want to recycle after seeing her? She had this cute dress made out of tires, a hat made out of the bottom of a bottle, and a cute plastic bag purse.
The parade was suppose to start at 5pm, so we showed up at 5:30pm. But even shown up 30 min late, we were still an hour and 15 min early. Ecuadorian time of course. The parade ended up starting close to 7pm, so not only was it getting dark by then, but it was getting close to my now normally ridiculously early bedtime.
Had we known that each group was dancing or acting something out, we would have planned something like this as well. But oh well the important thing is we represented the project at least. I was the giant blue recycling bin, where you put your plastic, aluminum, and glass. I have to say I never thought I´d get the chance to be a giant recycling bin in a parade before. Now, I´m normally a little shy in big groups so walking in a parade is not the easiest thing to do, and little did I know that there were two presentations in this parade. You see a parade here doesn’t just lap around the streets like I thought it does, it goes to the main park where someone is on stage talking about each group as they enter, then you have a couple of awkward minutes where you are there in this big space in front of like a couple hundred people (obviously I had no idea what I was getting myself into)... And that was only the first presentation, we had to go through two of those parks that night. Although it was extremely nerve racking I just tried to remember that even if I wasn’t wearing this giant foam costume with garbage taped to it, people would probably still be staring at me just because I´m the ¨gringa¨ in town. After three hours of walking and waiting, I think our mission was accomplished, people saw the recycling bins for the first time, and now maybe when they see the bins located around town in a few weeks they will think ¨oh yeah these were those recycling things that people were dressed up as in the parade.¨