Haiti

If you check well the front page of this board will see that there is a section threads that read Haiti.
Please don't mix my country with the other....

JJ

Sara,

Welcome to the forum.

As part of your education, you just found out that too closely identifying Haiti with the DR can be a sensitive issue.

As to your question about the DR: I am not aware of any formal recycling efforts, but Dominicans are extremely resourceful recyclers. Nothing, it seems, ever gets thrown away. For example, to keep my sugar safe from ants, it is kept in an old peanut butter jar.

So far, the best example I have seen of Dominican resourcefulness in this area is a wreat I saw last week in front of a poorer home. It was quite pretty, and upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a collection of bows made out of different colored plastic bags: La Sirena yellow, Nacional green, and many other colors from places I have yet to shop.

Recycling in General

Hi Sara,

Unfortunately in either country there is no formal recycling program. In both countries whatever "recycling" they do would be better described as "being resourceful". As I have lived in both Haiti and the DR the amount of plastic (bags & Bottles) and styrofoam is a major source of polution on both sides of the border. A simple solution that would put a major dent in the polution is a deposit program implemented by the bottling companies (example: Coca cola). If every plastic soda bottle had a 5 or even 1 peso deposit all those less fortunate would be out on the streets collecting bottles...benefits them and the country. And just maybe all those window washing boys at every street corner in SD would diminish by opting to collect bottles instead of harassing drivers.

BTW. I have a friend in Haiti who is recycling old tires and making sandals out of the rubber.

rh8371 said:

Hi Sara,

Unfortunately in either country there is no formal recycling program.

Click to expand...

Actually, that is not entirely true. There is a formal recycling program in the DR, still of limited scale but existing nonetheless and trying to growth, in Punta Cana. It is run by the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation: PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation's zero waste program

As for reuse, Cerveceria Nacional, bottlers of Presidente beer, has bought back empty, unbroken beer bottles for decades and washed and reused them. That's why the botelleros collect them. There used to be a similar system for soda bottles when all soda was bottled in glass and an informal deposit/return system was practiced by colmados, but that has been disappearing as more and more soda sold in the DR is in plastic bottles and larger-scale retailers (supermarkets, hypermarkets) have gained share of soda retailing...

Interesting stuff to know Keith.

I can only speak from my own very limited experience in the DR that local colmado's still take back glass soda bottles but agree, you cant find them in the supermercado's, its all plastic bottles there, too bad.

As others have pointed out there is more informal recycling in Haiti than anything else. But there is also innovation like this project where they make fuel briquettes out of waste as an alternative to charcoal.

The World Challenge 2009 Finalist - Love n' Haiti

Actually there are recycling companies in DR, well at least in Santiago anyways. There is a Japanese company that works out of the dumping grounds in Santiago, that recycles all the plastic bottles and plastic bags, among other things.

Recycling in the DR

I'm not really sure if this exists in the DR. I'm not sure if the average citizen here considers this a life choice or a priority. I believe that aluminum cans and glass bottles are recycled and or re-used. I read recently on this web site that the government was looking into a garbage burning plant. These already exist in the states. The problem with this here in the DR is that there is garbage pickup but there is a not a priority or the economics in place which would make it worth while for the average Dominican Garbage collection opened aired truck to haul this garbage to a dumping station. This would have to change. If these independent business owners were given the rights economic incentatives you can bet your sweet a__ that they would get on board. This would be a great idea for the DR. This country needs an army of garbage collectors which if rewarded could become not only a priority here but a great idea to clean up and keep garbage from piling up. Not only could the government clean up those pockets where garbage has accumulated for years, they could generate cheap power. Three or four of these plant positioned around the country would do they trick. If I were the Dominican Government I would consider this a top priority and try to get foreign companies with expertise in this field to make the investment here. If you be a win-win-win for all parties. The local business' would benefit from selling the garbage, a foreign partner would benefit by being able to sell the energy back to the government and the government would benefit by procuring cheap energy and cleaning up the environment at the same time. I admit I know little about Haiti, but I'm sure about one thing, Haiti has a lot more on its plate at the moment. I don't think recycling is a priority now or any time soon. If you can switch your project to include the DR, I would do that. Take a trip down here, look around, check it out and see what life in a developing economy is all about. P.S. bring your bathing suit and check out the beach.

S