Trash solution for Cabarete and Sosua

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jackieboo

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As many have noticed there is an issue with trash on the beaches and roadsides. We?ve all seen cars and trucks on the road throwing their garbage out the window as if it were a magical garbage disposal. More like a ?let them eat cake? attitude.

So, we all know that the government is not going to take care of the problem and we sure know that the Dominican people aren?t going to change their trash disposal ways, so what do we do? There are two options; one we do nothing continue to admire the piles of trash
-or- two; we band together and clean it up. Option two almost makes me laugh out loud after reading posts on this site for the past 8 months.

Anyway here?s my proposal.

1. Have you ever noticed that nothing of ANY value is ever discarded? You don?t see bottles or tires (that is tires that aren?t shredded) littering the countryside.

2. How do you make it lucrative to collect the ?trash? on the beaches and on the side of the road?

3. The answer is to develop a coop of at least 100 people on the North Coast that are willing to pay $500.00RD a month for a 6 month trial.

With that $50,000RD monthly investment we could ?pay? for trash to be collected. I use the word ?pay? because we don?t want to get in a situation where we employee people.

We hire the truck and pay people X amount for plastic and Styrofoam.

Say $10.00RD for 20 Styrofoam containers or $5.00RD for 20 plastic water bottles.

Keep in mind that what is collected comes from the area we are focusing on that day. In other words we?re not going to pay people to bring their garbage from their homes.

So, having said all of that, let the negative comments begin.

If fact let me help you with a few anticipated replies:

a. Who has $500.00RD a month to waste? If you don?t have $500.00RD then how about earning some money by collecting trash?
b. I don?t live on the beach, why should I contribute. Fine, no problem, we?re going to clean the roadside as well.
c. If the business? that line the beaches don?t pay then why should I? We?ll first concentrate on areas that have the most trash. If the business or development benefits from the cleaning then we?ll send them a bill. Yes, I know they don?t have to pay it, but it?s a symbolic thing.
d. Who?s going to be in charge of the money? Hopefully a lawyer in the area will donate their services.

The thing is that if people start to see the benefits of the coop then they?ll want to be part of it. Imagine what it?d be like to read comments from visitors on how amazingly clean Sosua and Cabarete were compared to other areas of the country.

Higher property values anyone?

PM me if you?re interested and IF we have enough people we?ll organize a meeing.

If not, this plastic water bottle is for you......

Jack
 
S

Snuffy

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Jackieboo...

Option 1 will probably prevail. But if you could do something then I would keep it as simple as possible. Also, if the locals see you are picking up the trash they might haul their trash out to a location where you pick up...so you might make the problem even worse. You could try to organize a once a week community clean up. Have a BBQ after the clean up. Keep it simple.
 
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Rocky

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They need only follow the system that was used in the 50's & 60's in America, with add campaigns (Don't be a litter bug), followed by posted fines for littering.
It will take at least 10 years, as it did there.
 
G

gary short

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People changed there attitudes almost overnight in Belize after an anti littering blitz....maybe that's all it would take.
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Rocky said:
They need only follow the system that was used in the 50's & 60's in America, with add campaigns (Don't be a litter bug), followed by posted fines for littering.
It will take at least 10 years, as it did there.
Click to expand...
True. It's a cultural shift.

I suggest hiring Dominican Trash Police, and put them on commission. They get RD$200 for every litterer they bust, fines paid by the litterer in Trash Court. That stops littering. You'd have folks camping out to wait to fill out Trash Police applications. Multiple offenders will lose their right to cervesa or ron.

Then give folks RD$100 for turning in a litterer. Heck, it worked in the Soviet Union by paying kids to turn in ntheir subversive parents into the po-lice. You'll have every barrio cleaned up by noon tomorrow.

Those busted will have to serve 2 days "community service" picking up stuff off the side of the road and curbs. They can earn RD$100 pesos a day if they pick up their assigned quota amount. That cleans the streets.

Then pitch kids a "Peso a Pound" program for litter they bring to the dump.

:cool: ;)

The DR will look cleaner than St. Peters Square by Easter...
 
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jackieboo

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Show me 'da money

Rocky said:
What about Jackieboo?
I say we delegate.
Click to expand...

I'm on it Rocky. I've contacted the board of Cogenration Inc. and have applied for their third world funding project.

I expect that a scouting team is on their way to the DR in their newly developed hydro propelled hovercraft.... wait.... wait... I can see them from my balcony... they have landed on Sosua beach and are making their way to Rocky's bar now.... crap, one of them just picked up a street hooker, I should have specified what kind of street trash I wanted them to work on.... damn

Rocky, please confirm their safe arrival.

Now that that's done do you have any other worth while projects for me?
 
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HOWMAR

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In New Jersey we use the modern "chain-gang" to clean the beaches and highways. Low security-risk prisoners are used to clean these areas. They are given a day of fresh air, a lunch provided by local businesses, and an additional day of "good-time" credit for their work. The prisoners consider this a privilege and don't abuse the opportunity. The problem in the DR would be finding guards that are reliable and would't wander off.
 
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jackieboo

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You funny...

HOWMAR said:
In New Jersey we use the modern "chain-gang" to clean the beaches and highways. Low security-risk prisoners are used to clean these areas. They are given a day of fresh air, a lunch provided by local businesses, and an additional day of "good-time" credit for their work. The prisoners consider this a privilege and don't abuse the opportunity. The problem in the DR would be finding guards that are reliable and would't wander off.
Click to expand...

Of course all of the Dominican jails are filled with 'low security' prisoners.

You know there've been over 200 views of this post and out of that one person has responded seriously.

I'm not saying that my proposal was THE answer but at least I made serious suggestion which is much more than I can say about most of the posts I read here.

What I really don't understand is why the trash issue hasn't been dealt with in the past. Clean streets, clean beaches = higher return tourist traffic = higher real estate values = more prosperity for everyone.

This really says something about the ex-pat community on this board. I'm reading that you love living here, you're scared sh*tless of the natives, you're happy you're not paying taxes in your home country and anything to do with real improvement here is soley the responsibility of the Dominican government.
 
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Rocky

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jackieboo said:
You know there've been over 200 views of this post and out of that one person has responded seriously..
Click to expand...
I have a feeling you're not refering to me.
I have thought about this for over ten years, and seriously thought that a billboard campaign, a la "Don't be a litterbug" ,would work.
I was not being sarcastic.
That's what I believe would work.
 
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jackieboo

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Rocky said:
I have a feeling you're not refering to me.
I have thought about this for over ten years, and seriously thought that a billboard campaign, a la "Don't be a litterbug" ,would work.
I was not being sarcastic.
That's what I believe would work.
Click to expand...

No Rocky I wasn't referring to you.

Since I work from home I have access to this board more than the average bear and more than I should. I don't read (forgive me if I'm looking in the wrong place) many REAL viable suggestions for solutions. Virtual real time information is a wonderous thing however it's useless unless there are three dimensional changes.

I agree that a 'don't litter' campaign would be a great thing, but how do you start it? Who do you contact to make it a reality? I've seen signs in Santo Domingo, Cabarete, Santiago and Las Terranas that have a picture for the illiterate and words for those readin folks. The think I don't see are big trash cans on the streets and the ones that I do see are often over flowing. One sign in Santo Domingo I thought was really amusing as there was a trash heap at the base of the sign.

This isn't anything similar to the '70's litter campaign in the U.S. The focus of that campaign was to clean up the industrial pollution. Here we just want the people not to throw garbage on the street and on the beach.

Maybe just buying old oil drums and using them as waste containers would be an answer. You could sell advertising on them and pay for the pick up with the monies collected from the advertisers.

Any of you lookiloo's out there that have recently been to the DR and noticed a trash problem? Did it influence you in a positive or negative way?


NAL's where are you on this one?
 
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Rocky

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jackieboo said:
This isn't anything similar to the '70's litter campaign in the U.S. The focus of that campaign was to clean up the industrial pollution. Here we just want the people not to throw garbage on the street and on the beach.
Click to expand...
You're forgetting just how old I am.
I did mention it was a 50's and 60's campaign, and it was not about industrial waste, it was about littering.
It did work, and it requires only someone with time and patience to petition the government to put up the billboards, maybe a TV campaign, as well.
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Rocky said:
You're forgetting just how old I am.
I did mention it was a 50's and 60's campaign, and it was not about industrial waste, it was about littering.
It did work, and it requires only someone with time and patience to petition the government to put up the billboards, maybe a TV campaign, as well.
Click to expand...
We're old...:disappoin :ermm: :tired:

It was Lady Bird Johnson's "Beautify America" program. It started by giving out little plastic bags to put on car doorknobs to put your trash in. Then litterers got big fines for littering. It went from there.

It was a cultural shift. It took 10 years or so, but littering in the US is practically non-existant in any meaningful form. Today, I wouldn't consider tossing ANYTHING out of the car (well, maybe the last bit of morning coffee backwash...).

Same thing happened with seat belts-another culture shift. Used to be no car had them. Now most folks wouldn't consider starting their car up without buckling.

It's possible. It just takes resolve by folks, and government has to promote it in succeeding administrations.

(I DO remember a major "Beautify America" faux pas: Texas tried planting trees and wild flowers that needed water along the highways of West Texas. They lasted a long time, as you can imagine. :rolleyes: Government at it's best...)
 
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Don Juan

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Allow me My 2 cents worth.

What would work in the US will not work in DR. We simply have a very different mind-set. No amount of prodding will make most Dominicans abandon their "throw-away wherever" pattern. They (most) do not seem to associate garbage= decease= eyesore= lower income. They just don't get it!

The ONLY way they will react in a positive way is to offer them money to do the job you want done. There's simply NO other way!!

Alright, How is this accomplished? #1. Get as many "think-alike" people as possible. #2. Direct your comrades (in sets of two), to visit businesses along the most polluted streets and ask for their help. #3 Delegate a large group of your organization to talk to the local sindicos and see if they will help in ANY way to do the job that's technically their's. #4. If no reaction from the local government leaches, have your group recruit a large number of people to pick up garbage where it's most needed. Presumably this is paid for by the local business association. #5. Go to the mayor papers ( Listin, Hoy) and make a big stink about the sorry state of the north coast AND the freaking country due to neglect and the laissez-faire attitude in local sindicos. #6. Run for office yourself and clean up the town figuratively and literary!
More power to you Jackieboo for trying to better our lives! I salute you!!!
If I lived there I'd be your most enthusiastic backer! I wish you great success!
:disappoin :disappoin
 
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