(Alec Tan)
Indonesia is a country that is rather amazing for its sights, but of course, we do not want these sights to be invaded with the unsightly thing called trash. The government of Indonesia also thought of this, and asked for help from the United States in managing their waste. So, the government sent a team to see what the Indonesians are doing with their waste.
So, on 1986, this team of surveyors looked and probed around Indonesia, especially the city of Surabaya. They found out some facts:
• Surabaya made 5,600 cubic meters of waste everyday in 1986. How about now?
• Out of this 5,600 cubic meters, 2,000 are illegally dumped or burned. That's sure to be a huge lot of waste.
• The waste collection system involved wooden carts and dump trucks, and they dump it on certain streets. It's a dangerous place to put trash in, it might spread disease everywhere.
• The city is cris-crossed with rivers and drainage canals. And since many people throw a lot of trash in these rivers and canals everyday, they can cause the city to flood by blocking the canals and rivers. Also, the trash may completely block the canals and allow standing water, and thus a breeding place for mosquitoes.
• It was noticed that the waste management system needs to be improved in all aspects, since the situation is getting worse by the day.
• It was noted that almost all the waste of Surabaya is organic, and could have been used for composting and Waste-to-Energy mechanisms and processes.
• It was also said that the open dumping of the wastes is harmful, because it could contaminate the ground and groundwater below. It might also be a haven for mosquitoes, and is wasteful of land.
We could see that we could apply this to our own cities, especially Manila. Blocked sewage spills everytime a storm hits, putting people in feet of water. We could see the mountains of trash in Payatas, dubbed as the Smokey Mountains. We could see, at the riverside of many rivers, trash floating around, fouling the water.
This has to stop. Seriously, this has to stop. Otherwise, the situation may be all too much for us to solve, and for that, we will have ruined the Earth that we are given. But, by action, we could make a stand and solve the problem once and for all!
All we need is hope, courage, knowledge, and will. I hope that we have given to you the information that you need. I hope that you have been convinced to help us in our stand. I hope that you will actually help us in helping ourselves. For once a chance goes away, it never returns. It is time to take that chance.
YES, it exists. And NO, you DON'T drink it.
Compost tea is a liquid made by mixing compost in water. It's used as fertilizer, and can be used to prevent plant diseases.
Had you going for a minute there, didn't we?
========================================
*taken from a flyer of this event.*
Ayala Recyclables Fair at TriNoma!
-North Open Parking-
-Every 4th Friday of the Month-
-8 am-3 pm-
YOU MAY DISPOSE/SELL THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:
Ayala Recyclables Fair at TriNoma!
-North Open Parking-
-Every 4th Friday of the Month-
-8 am-3 pm-
YOU MAY DISPOSE/SELL THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:
Used lead-acid batteries: Genset, UPS, and motor batteries.
E-Waste: Non-working electronic and electrical appliances, obsolete CPUs and monitors
Paper Waste: Used paper: old newpapers, cartons, magazines, obsoloete books, posters, tetra pak cartons
Plastic and metal waste: VHS and betamax tapes, cassette tapes, bottles, containers, sando bags, plastic furniture, aluminum cans, tun cans and other materials
Printer cartridges: Toners and ink cartridges
For proper disposal only: Tarpaulin streamers, household batteries, Polystyrene packaging, mobile phones, batteries and chargers.
*For more information, you can contact TriNoma Concierge at 901-3000 or Ayala Foundation at 752-2084.
Schedule and venues of other Recyclables Fairs:
-Every 2nd friday of the month - Goldcrest parking lot, Glorietta, Makati
-Every 3rd friday of the month - Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa
Schedule and venues of other Recyclables Fairs:
-Every 2nd friday of the month - Goldcrest parking lot, Glorietta, Makati
-Every 3rd friday of the month - Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa
(Alec Tan)
Almost everyday of our lives, we see plastic everywhere--plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic toys..you get the idea.
Almost everyday of our lives, we see plastic everywhere--plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic toys..you get the idea.
We also know that plastic is one of the leading materials in which waste is made of, meaning that much waste is made of plastic. If not for the effective waste management of some countries and decent (or less than decent) waste management of some others, the Earth will be soon covered in trash everywhere.
Now, all of us know about global warming. The warming of the Earth accelerates as more ice is melted, and soon, the Earth will radically change, as we see in The Day After Tomorrow. Everybody's raving about it, from me to you to Al Gore to almost every official in every government. Now, if only we can apply that so we can inspire more people to make less waste.
Here's something for you: In making plastic, you use machinery. This machinery needs oil to run, which is taken from fossil fuels and is used, thus releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. So these plastics don't just litter the Earth, they harm the air as well.
And here are the cold facts:
For every kilogram of plastic, you release 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Now, 6 kilograms may not be much, but we're talking about thousands, even millions of kilograms of plastic per month! Now it is quite clear why the carbon dioxide levels soared soon after the start of the mass production of plastic.
For every kilogram of plastic, you release 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Now, 6 kilograms may not be much, but we're talking about thousands, even millions of kilograms of plastic per month! Now it is quite clear why the carbon dioxide levels soared soon after the start of the mass production of plastic.
So, here's the thing: Help save both the land, sea, and air! Reduce the production of plastic! If we do, it's a great leap towards a green earth. With all the ways that we have shown to you so far, let us help ourselves using those ways, and many others that you know. There still is a chance to heal our world. Let's take it while we can.
Lately, we've been talking about other countries. Let's now talk about what WE could do to reduce garbage in our own homes.
1) Composting
- Composting is just burying biodegradable materials below the surface of the earth. Although pretty useful, most of our trash is not food and such but plastics.
Plastics are the nastiest among the known garbage in the whole universe. It can survive for up to 1 million years!!! That's why most countries do what is the next best thing to do with them, recycle, which brings us to:
2) Recycling
- As you may know, recycling is the method of reducing garbage by re-using them instead of throwing them and buying new items that are made up of even more plastic. This method finds its weakness in the fact that not all plastics can be melted to a still usable form. Normal plastics would melt to a sticky liquid which is nevertheless, useless. So therefore we go to item # 3:
3) Burning/Incineration(in a sense)
- The easiest way, and most probably the most popular, would be burning the trash. Filipinos have been burning their trashes for years. Our parents did it. Their parents did it and their ancestors most probably did it too. You just have to set up a pile and burn them. Piece of cake, right? But this method has been receiving criticism because of the release of the deadly CARBON MONOXIDE. and also traces of other oxides.
There is one last way that is being done in the Philippines, Land filling.
4) Land Filling
- Have you ever been to Payatas? Then you have probably seen those huge mountains of garbage. This method of dumping garbage to even larger dumps of garbage is called land filling. This method is the 2nd to the last resort of the Philippines in hopes of clearing garbage (The last being incineration).
Although all of these would definitely help, I think you would really like to receive money from doing what is right, right? Then you could just go to the nearest junk shop and sell them for MONEY.
Click me, you know you want to.
(Ryan Jacinto)
We've been talking about waste and how to manage it. What now? Is there anything else it can do besides making a big mess? Well, waste can actually produce electricity! This is called Energy from Waste.
There are several ways that you can produce or extract energy from various waste materials. A few examples are:
1. Incineration w/ energy recovery
We already found out in some previous posts that incineration is a viable method for managing waste, but did you know that you can also produce electricity with it?
- Energy from Waste (EfW) plants would reduce fossil fuel usage. Every 1,000 megawatts of power generated by an EfW plant cuts carbon emissions by 1 million tonnes. That means incineration can also help save the air!
- For every 100,000 tonnes of waste incinerated it produces 7 megawatts of power.And after the waste is incinerated, most of the residue can be recycled. Another great thing about this is, the waste fuel just keeps coming, unlike fossil fuels which are quickly depleting.
- All this means that Incineration w/ energy recovery can produce energy and manage waste at the same time!
2. Landfill Gas
This method involves collecting the methane produced by the biological processes in landfills. This does two things:
- This reduces the impact of the methane produced on the surrounding environment
- And the methane collected can be used to power the garbage trucks that collect all the waste.
Although this is less efficient than the previous method, it is still a useful technology.
3. Anaerobic Digestion
This is basically an artificial recreation of the processes found in the landfills that produce the methane. This gives it some advantages over the last method, which are:
- Being an artificial process in a controlled environment, collection and conversion to energy is more efficient.
- The solid residue can be treated and used as fertilizer.
If these technologies were used in our country, it would become a better place, wouldn't it?
COCONUTS!
(Mark Daniel Barilla)
Biofuels are fuels coming from living things like palm and coconut. It has several advantage over pure fossil fuels:
1) It is cheap.
- Biofuels, as stated earlier, comes from living things. This just makes production easier and cost-friendly.If the Philippines uses 5% ethanol in gasoline, the government can save up to $179 million!!!
2) Cleaner than ever.
- Have you ever visited EDSA? If you have, did you cough or were you blinded because of the thick smoke cars emit? Then, if we keep on using biofuels, you can say bye-bye to that thick smoke because, biofuels decrease diesel emmisions by 60%! CO2(Carbon Dioxide emmisions are also reduced at the rate of 3 kg per evry liter of biodiesel used.
3)Very safe, very safe indeed.
- Have you ever heard of oil spills threatening aquatic life? Or maybe trucks burning because of temps. reaching 50 degree Centigrade? If you have then you should know what catastrophic consequences. Destruction of the ecosystem... Death of possibly loved ones... Poisoning of fishes and the downfall of the Fishing economy...The possibilites are endless. But if we continue on using biofuels, these problems can be eliminated. Biofuels can only ignite if the temperatures reach 150 degrees, unlike petroluem which can ignite at 50 degrees. They are also 10 times less toxic that salt (NaCl)!!!
4)I will survive!!!
- Biofuel is a life-extender. Well, not really for humans but for cars!!! Yep, you read that right, biofuel extends the life of your cars. They will survive longer because biodiesel lubricates car parts more than petroleum.
5)Economic advantages
- Biofuel can help our economy in 2 ways :
a) We are able to save money.
A 1% blend can result in a savings as large as $420 million at a volume of 86 million liters.
b) Livelihood promoter
Because it comes from living things, specifically plants, it requires the facilitation of farmers as primary source. This will result in more new jobs and will help in raising up the economy.
After all these things, you may ask me, "So what? I don't own cars or anything, right? So what can I do about it?"
I answer that question:
So far all we've been talking about is solid waste management--but if we're trying to keep our land and water clean, we shouldn't forget about the air we breathe. Lessen air pollution by using biofuels!
...Read on...
...Read on...
(Mark Daniel Barilla)
Biofuels are fuels coming from living things like palm and coconut. It has several advantage over pure fossil fuels:
1) It is cheap.
- Biofuels, as stated earlier, comes from living things. This just makes production easier and cost-friendly.If the Philippines uses 5% ethanol in gasoline, the government can save up to $179 million!!!
2) Cleaner than ever.
- Have you ever visited EDSA? If you have, did you cough or were you blinded because of the thick smoke cars emit? Then, if we keep on using biofuels, you can say bye-bye to that thick smoke because, biofuels decrease diesel emmisions by 60%! CO2(Carbon Dioxide emmisions are also reduced at the rate of 3 kg per evry liter of biodiesel used.
3)Very safe, very safe indeed.
- Have you ever heard of oil spills threatening aquatic life? Or maybe trucks burning because of temps. reaching 50 degree Centigrade? If you have then you should know what catastrophic consequences. Destruction of the ecosystem... Death of possibly loved ones... Poisoning of fishes and the downfall of the Fishing economy...The possibilites are endless. But if we continue on using biofuels, these problems can be eliminated. Biofuels can only ignite if the temperatures reach 150 degrees, unlike petroluem which can ignite at 50 degrees. They are also 10 times less toxic that salt (NaCl)!!!
4)I will survive!!!
- Biofuel is a life-extender. Well, not really for humans but for cars!!! Yep, you read that right, biofuel extends the life of your cars. They will survive longer because biodiesel lubricates car parts more than petroleum.
5)Economic advantages
- Biofuel can help our economy in 2 ways :
a) We are able to save money.
A 1% blend can result in a savings as large as $420 million at a volume of 86 million liters.
b) Livelihood promoter
Because it comes from living things, specifically plants, it requires the facilitation of farmers as primary source. This will result in more new jobs and will help in raising up the economy.
After all these things, you may ask me, "So what? I don't own cars or anything, right? So what can I do about it?"
I answer that question:
You can persuade your parents to use biofuels instead of petroleum. In that way you can help in decreasing air pollution.
Singapore. As you may know, Singapore is a small yet very rich and clean country. You may be wondering, "How can a very small country stay clean while getting rich?". I shall show you how.
Currently, 54% of Singapore's waste is recycled, 43% is incinerated and 3% are put into landfills. In 2007, a total of 5.6 million tonnes of refuse was generated. 50% or approximately 3 million tonnes was recycled. Imagine if Philippine's waste management system was as efficient as that!
Anyway, Singapore, being a small country, has scarce land. Thus, not many large plots of land for landfills. In fact, there is only one landfill in Singapore, the Semakau Landfill.
The people in Singapore pay for the trash they generate. This money multiplied by the number of people in Singapore multiplied by 365 days will definitely give lots n' lots a money!!!
This trash then is segregated and 54% is recycled, 43% incinerated and 3% sent to the land fills.
This very efficient waste system does not only work for land. They also have separate laws for Clean Air and Clean water. Imagine if the Philippines was like Singapore, then the number of trash will be reduced to 3%!!! That is why I like it in Singapore, it's clean yet does not use large amounts of money to clean their trash!
(Taken from the description in the youtube viewing page)
"Our research analyzed the two extreme case studies attempting to compare a small community-based waste recycling operation at Baan Kaolek, Karen Pow Hilltribe community, with a good example of Watklang community, an informal settlement in Bangkok.
In the case of Baan Kaolek, the waste management is inadequate and lied beyond their competence and concern. Wide spreading seasonal solid waste was observed in the deep forest land due to forest product smuggling and illicit trade.
In the case of Watklang, the people are vulnerable as they cohabit with heaps of garbage over a decade. However, its informal waste management system has evolved into a highly organized and profitable business and their waste management efforts have proven very successful in changing people's behavior. "
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