TRASH EVERYWHERE

One of the biggest issues our planet is facing is TRASH. We have become in tireless consumers and we are not responsible for the daily waste we produce. Colombia´s population today is 49,59 million people according to countrymeters.info and El Tiempo.com says year 2018 will close with 50 million. 

How big is our trash production? 

Dinero magazine published an article in 2017 that mentions Colombia produces 12 million tons of waste every year. On the other hand, El tiempo newspaper wrote an article in 2016 with the five departments with higher production of waste: Bogotá, Antioquia, Valle, Atlantico and Cundinamarca who are curiously those who have the largest population too.

The propper name for this trash y Solid Waste.Urban solid waste has been an increased issue during the last decades due several inappropriate processes. According to Sáez & Urdaneta (2014), quoting Ochoa (2009), solid waste needs to be handled in seven stages (generation, storage, pickup, transportation, transference, treatment and final destination) but Latin America and the Caribbean only put into practice the first one and the last one, which means, a lack of awareness, a lack of education and a wrong environmental behavior or culture.

TYPES OF SOLID WASTE

It is important to understand how waste production works, that´s why there is a classification of trash which indicates the source, the generator and the type of waste.

source: http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/urbanenvironment/sectors/solid-waste-sources.html 

Garbage thrown all over the city represents a higher environmental risk because this issue is the beginning of a bigger one, for example water contamination, air pollution, floods and spread of several diseases.

CALI

   

BOGOTA

  

 

MEDELLIN

BARRANQUILLA

As you may see, there is no difference in human behavior, people throw garbage on the streets causing a huge environmental problem. But is not only a problem of people, the truth is we are not familiarized with reciclying procedures and this increasses waste issues. Governments need to adjust social and economic policies in order to develop waste control.

There is also a movility problem with floods and water contamination. Below you´ll be able to watch a spanish video that relates the problem in Cali (in a visual way)

Garbage in Colombia

By Nazly Milena Chirimuscay

The environmental problem of garbage in the streets affects our country, is the consequence of human activities and bad behavior. People with little citizen conscience and also disinterest to protect the environment makes them throw gargabe on green zones in all cities causing a huge damage to nature and citizens. Some of the consequences of this problem are bad smells, pest such rat, flies, and mosquitoes. On the other hand, the debris in the street produces damage in the earth producing air contamination for people living around which also brings  breathing problems for children and adults,  this kind of problem contributes to global warming too.

Domestic waste is still thrown into rivers and effluents. According to the Ministry of Environment in Colombia, (2015) trash in rivers and bodies of water are a continuous practice. The annual generation of Solid Waste is approximately 9,488,204 tons (MADS, 2015). About 492,049 Ton/year, (SSPD, 2015) are not properly disposed and a significant amount of such waste constitutes a significant burden of contamination to bodies of water and environment itself.

The problem of landfills

Landfills are a temporary solution for waste management. There are several reports that mentioned landfills are full and trash is invading their surroundings afecting nature´s and citizens´life.

Here you may find a special report about landfills (spanish version)

The salvation or the condemnation of humanity.

By Nancy Lorena Ordoñez

These days has become a kind of trend to address the issues of the alteration in nature, but it is not just to quote words that incite reflection the reality in which we are at this time, is that all as active members of a rational society should be able to adopt an attitude of change.

To act in a responsible way towards the propper use of natural resources is our main goal, at least it should be.  If nature gives us everything we need, because now we take without measure their basic elements, it seems that we had forgotten the idea of ​​being a responsible society, a society that can be self-sustainable and because of that can provide a good basis for an integral growth of its active members.

In cases such as illegal mining, man is the main hand of destruction in nature, because in the eagerness to meet their most basic needs, forgetting that if you take something from nature you should look for the way to replace what it has been taken, otherwise it will be the same nature the responsible for filling what had been snatched before, and this time makes it more faithless, without compassion.

This is how we see increasingly frequent earthquakes, avalanche, among other natural disasters that are one of the consequences of that excessive use of nature. To avoid all this, as reasonable people, we can find a balance which  is a healthy practice and doesn´t hurt  nature. There are many mechanisms to make a serious commitment and establish it as a norm of coexistence and should be a low, or even better, a controlled behavior of the same society.

ZERO WASTE PRODUCTION EXAMPLE

References

Aloy, T. A. Tomeo. (2013, 27 octubre). Speakout advanced p.27 Expression Opinions. Extra vocabulary [Blog post]. Recuperado 19 abril, 2018, retrieved from http://englishadvanced2.blogspot.com.co/2013/10/speakout-advanced-p-27-expressing.html

Castaño, J.; Rodríguez, R.; Lasso, L.; Gómez, A., y Ocampo, S. (2013). Gestión de residuos de construcción y demolición (RCD) en Bogotá: Perspectivas y limitantes. Revista Tecnura,17(38),121-129.recuperado 29 abril ,2018 Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_nlinks&ref=000096&pid=S0123-921X201500020001300014&lng=en

Calidad del aire una prioridad de política pública en Colombia, Departamento Nacional de Planeación, Gobierno de Colombia, febrero de 2018. https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/Prensa/Presentaci%C3%B3n%20Calidad%20del%20Aire%2015_02_2018.pdf.

DAGMA (10 de noviembre de 2011). Estudio de escombros en la ciudad de Cali. Recuperado el 5 de junio de 2013, de Grupo de control de impactos al suelo; retrieved from: Alcaldía de Santiago de Cali: http://www.cali.gov.co. 

Estrada, E. L., Cruz, D., & Ríos, J. F. Conocimientos, Actitudes Y Prácticas Frente A Los Residuos Sólidos De Los Estamentos Universitarios Del Campus Pance De La Fundación Universidad Católica Lumen Gentium, Cali, Colombia1.

Http://englishadvanced2.blogspot.com.co/2013/10/speakout-advanced-p-27-expressing.html.

Law 1259 of 2008 and agreement 0327 of 2012, including environmental, instrument of control and sanction for violators of the rules of cleaning, cleaning and collection of debris.

Sáez, A., & Urdaneta, J. A. (2014). Manejo de residuos sólidos en América Latina y el Caribe. Omnia, 20(3).

Palazón, M., & Aleson, M. (n.d.). GRAMMAR. Retrieved from http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/7893/1/connectors.pdf

Ubilla, Carlos; Yohannessen, Karla. Outdoor air pollution respiratory health effects in children. Revista médica clínica los condes. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0716864017300214

Varela Esguerra, V. E. Héctor Fernando. (2009, 1 marzo). Contaminación de basuras en Cali, writing website in text citations and references [Blog post]. Recuperado 19 abril, 2018, retrieved from http://hecfa.blogspot.com.co/