Let’s imitate New Jersey ways to help clean up the community

During a visit to my daughter Rachelle in New Jersey, I decided to check the community waste management program there, a problem which has been bugging us in our over populated Philippine cities. My son-in-law, Bob Gonzalez, an environmentalist, health and security specialist, drove me to three of his colleagues. One worked with a methane gas company near the New Jersey Turnpike. Its giant electric machine complex has been sucking out methane gas from two dumpsites, which took 10 years to accumulate and is currently working on the third. The first dumpsite has become a huge sports complex, while the second one is now a winter sports hill for snow sledding. The gas is sold commercially.

The New Jersey City vehicles check-up garage

next he took me to one of the huge city vehicles check-up garages, where by law, each New Jersey vehicle won’t get a license renewal unless it passes an annual road safety test. The first hurdle was testing the breaks. The inspector has to drive the car on the metal floor and suddenly put on the brakes. The brakes were checked by a computer machine. The second step is for the car to drive over the metal floor, which electronically gauges the alignment of the wheels. A checklist, like a vehicle report card, was passed on to every station checker who would give a mark for each condition of the vehicle. Then the working conditions of the carburetor and oil gasket were carefully inspected. Finally, the headlights, parking lights and batteries were checked. This is required for a comprehensive care insurance coverage.

The third site we visited was the city garage and parking area for the heavy garbage trucks for a particular district. Bob knew the young department head. Apparently he has been regularly attending garbage disposal seminars in different states. Conventions are even held for city waste management. He gave us some magazine catalogs for garbage disposal equipment and vehicles.

Garbage segregation in plush district

Filipino couple, Dr. Zal and Josie Velez live in the plush district of West Orange, New Jersey. The houses here are similar to homes in Forbes Park, but what impressed me was how the residents easily cooperate to segregate their recyclable waste materials. A one-hectare lot at the back of the residential area, managed by a retired technician, served as the collection place.

There were four metal wagons, which measured 2 ½ x 3 ½ meters. One was filled with empty gallon jugs for milk and juices. The other wagon carried empty bottles. I saw a lady bringing in several big carton boxes, which she dumped into a compactor, which flattened them to one-fourth its size. The custodian pointed to a huge white plastic tank and explained that this is used by residents for used car oil. The other big wagon carried used clothing. This empty lot was provided by the district council. It included storage for rock salt that is scattered on icy roads during winter. Another resident drove in to dispose of his numerous plastic jugs that must have been collected in the past several months. The presence of the custodian is important for he supervises the proper segregation of waste materials of the residents, who come in every 15 minutes, the whole day.

How communities can promote recycling and home composting

Help create a market for recycled products. During my term as village president of North Greenhills Association, I designated two tentative holding stations for recyclable materials. One station is a huge vacant lot for bundles of long branches and leaves. There are also three huge wooden boxes for large empty plastic jugs, rinsed tin cans and glass bottles and one foot-high bundled junk office papers and newspapers. These recyclables were then easily sold to Narda Camacho’s junkshop.

Odette Alcantara’s Mother Earth home compost formula requires a pail of soil with a trowel and a size 12” clay pot (paso) beside the dish washing sink. Procedure: Scrape all food scraps after each meal into the paso. Cover with trowel full of soil. This deodorizes the fermenting leftovers. When full, empty the paso into a one meter deep hole in your backyard. Be sure you cover this with soil at all times. Water lightly. When there is strong rain put a tin, wooden or plastic cover over the pit, so the garbage will not float. In two months, with weekly turning, it will decompose into black soil.

Sell it by the yard

Having a yard for garage sale is a good way to recycle your old things. But why think small? What if dozens or even hundreds of households in your community held garage sales on the same day? It is good for the community since it encourages reuse as a form of recycling by making it “official.” Promoting reuse eases the garbage crunch. It sets an example. You’ll spread the word to other communities that there are creative alternatives to dumping. Approach your neighborhood association officers or your city government and get support for the project as a waste reduction or recycling event. Remind them that it will save landfill space and money. Set a date for the sale. Put together a registration form for people who want to participate, so they can tell you where they’ll be holding their garage sales. Use these completed forms to create a “shopper’s map” for the day of the event. Make flyers and signs to post in public places and key intersections. Make arrangements in advance with Goodwill for a charity organization to pick up the items that are left at the end of the day. You may reach their office at tel. nos. 8373094 or 8387170. They accept used clothes, shoes, toys, magazines, books, used furniture and appliances.

Supermarket packaging accounts for 1/3 of municipal waste

When you go grocery shopping, you intend to buy food. But when you come home and unpack your bags, you’ll find a lot more than milk, bread and eggs. First the grocery bags themselves, then there are the various containers: cardboard boxes, microwave popcorn, egg cartons, cellophane wrappings, plastic bags, or plastic cartons. By the time the end of the week rolls around, you’ve got the nonfood leftovers to contend with: empty plastic milk jugs and assorted types of trash.

Packaging accounts for one-third of all municipal waste by weight and as much as 50 percent by volume. Plastic and synthetic materials use more energy than any other sector of the chemical industry. In fact, to produce them consumes 3.5 percent of all oil used in the United States. Not only does this dependence on oil considerably deplete an already declining fuel source, but it contributes directly to global warming and acid rain.

Be prepared to take your own durable shopping basket with you and refuse the numerous plastic bags offered. Buy milk or juice by the gallon instead of mini-packs. Boycott products with plastic or excess packaging. Buy locally produced goods rather than products from other industrialized countries. Buy unbleached or white toilet paper. Avoid spray products, get instead roll-on deodorants.

Hunt the dump

Is your community unknowingly exposed to hazardous waste? In many instances, you can both see and smell the substances: Dark smoke rising from a stack at the local factory, oil floating on the surface of the river, or black “goop” bubbling or seeping up from the ground near your home are all pretty hard to miss.

Is the dump close enough to your community? Does it have a chance of contaminating the drinking water supply? Or can it create health problems associated with decomposing solid or hazardous waste? What is the history of the dump itself? Who dumps there? What is being disposed? Have any citizens complained? Has any environmental testing conducted? Does the site have a permit to legally accept hazardous waste?

If the answer to our questions are not “good enough” then it is always wise to contact the news media, negative publicity about the dump site may help persuade the responsible company to stop dumping and begin cleaning up. It might also convince elected officials to take the garbage problem seriously.

Negotiate the good neighbor agreement

Some environmentalists think of all businesses as adversaries. But that doesn’t help anyone. In fact many businesses – even ones that produce hazardous waste – are willing to modify practices in order to be better neighbors. That’s the basis for a new kind of cooperation between industry and concerned citizens. It’s called a “good neighbor agreement.” This agreement puts into writing what you and local industries believe is responsible corporate behavior. It increases a community’s influence with local industries. A good neighbor agreement backed up by on-site inspections keeps you up to date on local industry activities.

If you and your neighbors have a problem with a business in your neighborhood – excessive odor or noise from a factory, or leaky drums in storage or if you are just concerned about potentially hazardous chemicals, call the company and ask to meet with the plant manager or other country representative. Be clear thoroughly and let them know you’d like to work with them to solve the problem. Negotiate and find an acceptable compromise. Try to maintain a good working relationship.

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