Recycling

[beeza]

Recycling is huge business in Europe as the saying goes, "Where there's muck, there's brass"

A german airline pilot friend of mine is investing in a recycling company in Germany.  He tells me that the going rate for a cubic meter of waste plastic is 800 euros.  He is a regular traveller to the DR as he flies for Condor and he is convinced that there is a market opportunity here with the amount of material to harvest and the cheap cost of labour.  He travels a lot around the DR on his lay-overs and is so dismayed at  the amount of plastic found on the beaches and roadsides.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get going, I would be happy to introduce him.  

 

[cobraboy]

Does anyone here compost kitchen organic matter?
Any suggestions?

We do, a pile in the back yard.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

Without the ability to reduce recycled material back into the constituent parts and then offer those for sale to an existing market, recycling hits a stumbling block that sees the collected waste being shipped by the boat load somewhere else - essentially a "not in my pile" shell game.

I don't see a domestic market for processed recyclables here thus I don't think we'll see the required processing plants to actually remove this waste from the equation - just a big pile somewhere else. At least not having all this waste in the ditches and the rivers would be a plus.

Here in the DR I think several large plasma incinerators might be a more effective way to actually make the waste disappear.

 

[william webster]

Buster...

The bottlers - rum & beer (as dv8 says) want their bottles back for reuse....
That should be easy.

Beeza's idea about general waste recycling (plastic in particular) has merit.
The undertaking, licensing approval, graft , etc will be the problem.

Per capita. - I am sure RD ranks high in waste globally....

But I would like to see your put your prodigious skills to work on this !!

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

In my utopia, beverage distributors operate like the bottled water people. Buy your preferred size of container and have that refilled time and time again.

Personal sized beer kegs and growlers, an empty one for a full one exchange and delivery system countrywide for those that prefer that route. Noncarbonated liquor would be even easier. Soft drinks the same. Take your container to the Supermercado and fill it up.

Get rid of the millions of bottles altogether.

 

[Drperson]

We do, a pile in the back yard.

What about flies and rats?

 

[bienamor]

Next door to where I work there is a plastic recycling plant. To date it has had 3 owners, and has the largest pile of plastic bottles etc(mainly water and soda bottles) you have ever seen. Currently is closed for the 4th time. has all the equipment needed to shred all the plastic stuff. probably some one could buy it cheap!

 

[USA DOC]

Thats done naturally, in the dr.
They pay a peso or 2 for each glass bottle. Brugal or presidente

....Wow now I hear about this return thingy....after last nights party at mi casa/church I personally filled the garbage, with bottles....mostly Presidente........Rev. Doc..........

 

[william webster]

What about flies and rats?

I wouldn't position it outside the bedroom.....
Keep it at a distance... no meat

 

[Caonabo]

What to do with our rubbage, refuse and waste has been debated, implemented, rescinded, amended, and argued upon globally for close to a century. A brief internet search will cause you to go light-headed. If the RD continues to follow the lead of Big Brother to the northwest they will find themselves as the proverbial dog chasing his tail. Perhaps the Swedish model should be considered as a path to eventual success.

 

[dv8]

the return of beer bottles is solid and the incentive is already there: presidente does buy all their bottles and give discounts (to colmados and similar places) on purchases with return of empty bottles. what DR is lacking - when it comes to glass - is a processing plant. since the fall of zanzibar, about a decade ago, DR no longer processes broken glass nor does it produce new. there is one or two companies that collect broken glass and ship it out of DR.

metaldom processes scrap metal but i understand they only sort it out, pack and prepare for export.

i know that there are plastic processing plastic tho. they produce stuff like rubbish bins, flower pots and other assorted items.

 

[reilleyp]

Next door to where I work there is a plastic recycling plant. To date it has had 3 owners, and has the largest pile of plastic bottles etc(mainly water and soda bottles) you have ever seen. Currently is closed for the 4th time. has all the equipment needed to shred all the plastic stuff. probably some one could buy it cheap!

Looks like there is no market for it now. Our local recycling center in PA is facing budget problems because prices for the recycled product are so low.

Article below from the Northwest;
http://www.opb.org/news/article/chinese-ban-waste-northwest-recycling-limbo/

Apparently, we haven’t been doing a very good job of sorting our trash from our recycling — and the Chinese government has noticed.

China doesn’t want loads of our paper and plastic waste that often have contaminants like dirty diapers inside.

So, the government is cracking down on the shipment of recyclable material from the U.S. By the end of the year, much of the mixed plastic and paper in our recycling bins will be banned from China.

That leaves companies in the Northwest without buyers for much of the material they collect from curbside bins, which could mean our recyclables will end up in a landfill.

Peter Spendelow, natural resource specialist with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said the loss of Chinese buyers is a major disruption in the recycling market. It’s unclear where all the paper and plastic will go instead.

“We’ve seen markets go up and down before, but this is big,” he said. “When the major buyer cuts out with almost no notice – it’s going to be a struggle for a while. There’s just no way around it.”

 

[william webster]

I live on both sides of the border - Canada/USA

I can tell which one is better at recycling - first hand.

One point
Ontario Canada offers NO free plastic grocery bags with purchase.
Pay 5 cents or bring your own...
Less waste generated,

 

[reilleyp]

I live on both sides of the border - Canada/USA

I can tell which one is better at recycling - first hand.

One point
Ontario Canada offers NO free plastic grocery bags with purchase.
Pay 5 cents or bring your own...
Less waste generated,

In the DR and the US they put two cans in a bag, and then triple bag it again to make sure they do not tear. You end up going home with 75 bags.

 

[william webster]

Yes Sir....
exactly.

The USA has a lot to learn - or at least. to put into practice

 

[Caonabo]

Makes one fondly remember and recall the days of brown paper bags for purchases.

 

[malko]

Makes one fondly remember and recall the days of brown paper bags for purchases.

I cant see why, honestly, as the brown paper bags also become waste.
Back in europe, you buy a bag once, and re-use to no end..... I bring loads over to the dr with me. They are great for lots of things.

On a side note, the plastic bags from la sirena or ochoa, etc........ I re-use as bin bags.

Why was I rambling on about that ?
Oh yes.
So back home supermarkets dont hand out plastic bags, you bring your own more tougher bags.
BUT its a problem for the vegetables while you are shopping. 
So now the supermarket vegetable bags are compostble...... just throw them in the compost.
Now THAT is a great idea for the DR.

 

[cobraboy]

In the DR and the US they put two cans in a bag, and then triple bag it again to make sure they do not tear. You end up going home with 75 bags.

I stand there and make the bag boys fill the bags up. They use half the bags.

I also ask them not to use those complex knots, just a simple twist.

There are signs along the autopista about biodegradable bags, but can't say I've seen them in practice. I'm surprised Nacional doesn't use them because the owner is an environmentalist.

 

[AlterEgo]

I stand there and make the bag boys fill the bags up. They use half the bags.

I also ask them not to use those complex knots, just a simple twist.

There are signs along the autopista about biodegradable bags, but can't say I've seen them in practice. I'm surprised Nacional doesn't use them because the owner is an environmentalist.

Oh, the dreaded knots.  We always tell them “no knots” too.  

 

[Caonabo]

Yes, those twists can be quite irritating when trying to retrieve an item in a hurry from your shopping bags. As an example, toilet tissue. That aside, there is a justification to the process, as the majority of Dominicans (as we know) travel with a motoconcho or their own pasola. It's much easier for transport purposes when the bags possess the ever present constrictor knots. As a remedy, you can always elect to fill, load,and secure your own parcels. I always find this to be the ideal scenario.