Little local awareness of the climate change impact, call for more resilient building

[Manuel01]

There is absolutely Nothing that the DR can or can't do to affect climate change in any way shape or form.
But there a a million things that can be done to improve the environment on a local level.
Keeping Rivers clean and a responsible waste management etc etc etc.
I strongly suggest to clean up your home before being ambitious about "saving" the world.

 

[josh2203]

There is absolutely Nothing that the DR can or can't do to affect climate change in any way shape or form.
But there a a million things that can be done to improve the environment on a local level.
Keeping Rivers clean and a responsible waste management etc etc etc.
I strongly suggest to clean up your home before being ambitious about "saving" the world.

It should always start from home and then take place locally. Completely agree with you. Having returned from the EU a while back, the single thing that most bothers me, is the amount of plastic used, everywhere and with everything. And it's not good quality plastic, it's made "not to last".

I might be ignorant in this sense, but we recently purchased a bottle of coke from the supormarket. On the label it says in big letters "reciclame". I might have missed something, but my question is "how?". I know sometimes the garbage truck guys actually separate bottles from the waste, but I doubt this works?

 

[chico bill]

It should always start from home and then take place locally. Completely agree with you. Having returned from the EU a while back, the single thing that most bothers me, is the amount of plastic used, everywhere and with everything. And it's not good quality plastic, it's made "not to last".

I might be ignorant in this sense, but we recently purchased a bottle of coke from the supormarket. On the label it says in big letters "reciclame". I might have missed something, but my question is "how?". I know sometimes the garbage truck guys actually separate bottles from the waste, but I doubt this works?

Recycling no longer exists in the world except for glass And metals

 

[NanSanPedro]

Recycling no longer exists in the world except for glass And metals

I just looked up plastics recycling and it's 5 - 6% of post consumer plastic in the USA. I would be shocked if it's 10% of that here.

 

[josh2203]

Recycling no longer exists in the world except for glass And metals

Maybe not in all parts but back in my home country there is in fact only a very small fraction of waste that is not recycled, and even that is burned to get electricity and heat out of it. The resulting smoke filtered. Very little plastic around.

 

[bob saunders]

It should always start from home and then take place locally. Completely agree with you. Having returned from the EU a while back, the single thing that most bothers me, is the amount of plastic used, everywhere and with everything. And it's not good quality plastic, it's made "not to last".

I might be ignorant in this sense, but we recently purchased a bottle of coke from the supormarket. On the label it says in big letters "reciclame". I might have missed something, but my question is "how?". I know sometimes the garbage truck guys actually separate bottles from the waste, but I doubt this works?

I have seen huge trucks filled with plastic bottles. Where they are going , who knows.

 

[bob saunders]

I just looked up plastics recycling and it's 5 - 6% of post consumer plastic in the USA. I would be shocked if it's 10% of that here.

Plastics Recycling in Four Simple Steps | Alberta Plastics Recycling Association

albertaplasticsrecycling.com

 

[chico bill]

Worldwide about 4-6% of plastic gets recycled. Likely less than 1% in DR.
Reason - it costs more to recycle plastic than produce new plastic.
Glass and cardboard, and some types of shreddable paper (non-waxy) can be recycled.
The Chinese were charging & taking large recycling shipments from the West to simply bury or burn it but they were overwhelmed and stopped taking recycled waste a couple years ago.
If you feel good seperating your trash into recycle bins, by all means continue to do so but just know you're being scammed.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled

 

[chico bill]

What co

Maybe not in all parts but back in my home country there is in fact only a very small fraction of waste that is not recycled, and even that is burned to get electricity and heat out of it. The resulting smoke filtered. Very little plastic around.

What country is that Josh? I'd like to research their plastic recycling program

 

[chico bill]

I'm currently traveling in the US, at this moment in Virginia.
I see very little trash on the ground.
I saw one water bottle tossed on the ground, I saw one guy unwrap his cigarettes and toss the foil on the sidewalk, but yesterday I was appalled to see someone just set their Chick-fil-A trash in a bag outside their car door on the ground in the Chick-fil-A parking lot when they could have easily walked 40 feet to a trash can.
Littering is an exception here - in DR it seems to be the rule.

 

[Ecoman1949]

I'm currently traveling in the US, at this moment in Virginia.
I see very little trash on the ground.
I saw one water bottle tossed on the ground, I saw one guy unwrap his cigarettes and toss the foil on the sidewalk, but yesterday I was appalled to see someone just set their Chick-fil-A trash in a bag outside their car door on the ground in the Chick-fil-A parking lot when they could have easily walked 40 feet to a trash can.
Littering is an exception here - in DR it seems to be the rule.

Chico. You’re right about littering in the DR. I quickly came to that realization on my first trip to the DR decades ago. Some DR citizens see it as their right. You and I have lived long enough and in enough places to know that there is a certain segment of society that you can never reach and will litter regardless of what education programs and regulations are in place. Where I live, we still have aholes who dump garbage on woods access roads even though we have waste management sites where you can drop the garbage. Despite that, It doesn’t stop many governments including mine from implementing anti litter and recycling programs. They see the long term value in it.

Various DR administrations haven’t grasped the fact that anti littering education and enforcement programs start with them and takes years to become part of the mentality of the general population. They require consistency and constant enforcement. DR administrations including the current one, have difficulty delivering good basic infrastructure and basic services like dependable electricity and domestic water. It’s pure folly to expect them to put any effort into the litter problems as long are they’re mired down trying to deal with basic necessities.

The President is on the downside of his last term and appears to be floating towards his final days. Still very interested in resort development and anything that has the potential to affect tourism revenue like the sargassum problem. He knows the solutions to the sargassum problem are well beyond the scope of the DR and will never be resolved. He’s smart enough to know that the appearance of being concerned gives him some political gravitas, nationally and internationally. As former French President Mitterrand used to say, “He’s been educated in the art of world politics.“ The DR littering problem will never be on his radar.

 

[drstock]

The more well read and less gullible have figured out it's a scam.

But surely even you realise that no matter how much you read, it very much depends on your source of reading material. Of course, you know that internet algorithms just give you more of what they know is your point of view, so you rarely read the other side. Fortunately, I don't think DR1 has come to that yet!

 

[NanSanPedro]

Speaking of littering, I have noticed a whole bunch of new dumpsters on San Vincente in SDEste. I hope they get used. I actually do believe that the DR is slowly going to a less litter society.

 

[bob saunders]

But surely even you realise that no matter how much you read, it very much depends on your source of reading material. Of course, you know that internet algorithms just give you more of what they know is your point of view, so you rarely read the other side. Fortunately, I don't think DR1 has come to that yet!

Speak only for yourself. I almost always look at all the different opinions and sources for almost any subject. There are other search engines beside google that aren't as blatant in their used of Algorithms. I have been interested in Climate and pollution since I read Silent Spring back in 1966.

 

[drstock]

Speak only for yourself. I almost always look at all the different opinions and sources for almost any subject. There are other search engines beside google that aren't as blatant in their used of Algorithms. I have been interested in Climate and pollution since I read Silent Spring back in 1966.

Thanks for your advice, but I don't use Google.

 

[josh2203]

What co

What country is that Josh? I'd like to research their plastic recycling program

While I'm not German, we have lived there for years, they have one of the most advanced systems, as far as I know. Every relatively clean packaging goes to one bin, paper to one, food waste to one and what is left "Restmüll" to one. The system is obviously not bullet proof in terms of how people use it, but they are not getting rid of it either for some reason...

My own country in Scandinavia is in fact a bit behind compared to Germany, as a lot of plastic is not recycled per se, but burned in a very controlled environment to be "reused" in the form of heat and electricity. So what really is left after that, is very little.

I'd be happy to help you a bit in your research for plastic recycling:

Search for Duales System Deutschland. I found a Wiki site but only in German.