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Hi Fer! You are missing your BIG IDEAS #2 and your JOURNALS.

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Hi Vale! You are missing your BIG IDEAS #1 and #2 and all your JOURNALS. (most of your work)

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Hi Bruno! You are missing some of your JOURNALS. Good job on the rest :D

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Hi Alexa! You are missing your JOURNALS.

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Hi Diego! You are missing your BIG IDEAS #2 and your JOURNALS.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Diego's document to prepare for interviews.

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Diego's document to prepare for interviews.

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Check out this recent image, look at all that plastic trash!

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Here's the minute on our last meeting:
We recalled that you worked on your Problematic Slideshow before we went on vacation. Diego L showed us his presentation. Then each student completed her/his www note (reflection slideshow) where they reflected on their own feedback about their slideshows. They are now in each student's column here in Padlet.
Next session, we'll discuss about experts that we could interview and how to do it.
Vale was absent.

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Fer's www note on the problematic slideshow

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Fer's www note on the problematic slideshow

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Bruno's www note on the problematic slideshow.

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Bruno's www note on the problematic slideshow.

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Alexa's www note on my problematic slideshow

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Alexa's www note on my problematic slideshow

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Hello! I hope that you enjoyed your vacation guys! Hey, just wanted to say that I received each one of your presentations. I'm super glad that I got all of them. Please open yours as it has comments and corrections. This week, we will talk about your work in one of our meetings besides talking about your inquiries and the tasks that Miss Lili posted for you below. Have a great week!

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Hello guys! Please see the action plan we made this Friday together.  These are  the  tasks that we agree on 1. From April 4 to 19: investigate the destination of the garbage that leaves your house, what happens to it after it is taken away by the garbage truck. You can ask an adult or the person who collects the garbage in your house, but 2 meters away. Upload a short summary of your research in your Padlet column and a photo of your interview.2. From April 20 to 24: you should look for a video, or article, or a news ítem,  or a website that has information of the different ways that exist to reduce waste and put it in your Padlet column,  so we can see it,  and write 5 main ideas with that information.3. Watch the videos your mentors have posted for you and write your  opinion about it under each video, with your name on it.See you after vacation and enjoy family time !!!

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Hello guys! Please see the action plan we made this Friday together.  These are  the  tasks that we agree on 1. From April 4 to 19: investigate the destination of the garbage that leaves your house, what happens to it after it is taken away by the garbage truck. You can ask an adult or the person who collects the garbage in your house, but 2 meters away. Upload a short summary of your research in your Padlet column and a photo of your interview.2. From April 20 to 24: you should look for a video, or article, or a news ítem,  or a website that has information of the different ways that exist to reduce waste and put it in your Padlet column,  so we can see it,  and write 5 main ideas with that information.3. Watch the videos your mentors have posted for you and write your  opinion about it under each video, with your name on it.See you after vacation and enjoy family time !!!

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Entrevista con la Licenciada Ofelia Sahaydi Millán Calvillo 

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Entrevista con la Licenciada Ofelia Sahaydi Millán Calvillo 

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Hi Guys: This is the Presentation of the meeting that we have today.=0)

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Hola niños:
Este artículo me pareció muy interesante, sobre diferentes tipo de plástico

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Si bien es cierto que las envolturas y envases de plástico pueden resultar dañinos para el medio ambiente, es importante conocer más a fondo acerca de este tema para saber qué podemos hacer al respecto para evitar o reducir el impacto ambiental que pueden llegar a generar.

En este caso se podría empezar por identificar el tipo de material con el que están hechos los envases y envoltorios de los productos que consumimos diariamente. No es necesario que seas un experto en plásticos para identificar fácilmente cada uno de los tipos que existen y sus principales características. Aquí te explicamos cada uno de ellos de manera que puedas reconocerlos de forma muy sencilla.

Para empezar debes saber que los distintos materiales con los que se fabrica el plástico están marcados con un símbolo de un triángulo formado por flechas con un número en el centro, cada uno de ellos te lo mostraremos a continuación.

1. PET (Tereftalato de Polietileno)

Este es el plástico que podemos encontrar más comúnmente en envases de alimentos como botellas de agua, refrescos, jugos, aceites, etc. El PET es un material que se pude reciclar si se deposita en los contenedores adecuados. Inclusive podemos reutilizar una botella rellenándola si nos aseguramos de que esté bien limpia.

2. HDPE (Polietileno de alta densidad)

Este es un plástico más rígido y resistente al frío o calor, es común encontrarlo en envases de detergentes, botellas de leche, garrafas y bolsas de plástico. Es bastante seguro ya que se puede reciclar y puede ser reutilizado si se mantienen las normas adecuadas de higiene.

Algunos de los usos que se le dan a este material son en interiores de automóviles, juguetes para niños, envoltorios de alimentos, tuberías, mangueras. Es un plástico que no debe reutilizarse y tampoco es posible reciclarlo.

Al igual que el HDPE es muy seguro, lo podemos encontrar en bolsas y botellas para agua. Podemos reutilizarlo, sin embargo, no siempre es reciclable.

Su uso es muy frecuente en pajitas o popotes, envases de yogures y mantequilla. Resiste al calor y sirve de barrera contra la humedad, la grasa y productos químicos. Es seguro reutilizarlo y también es reciclable.

Este es el típico plástico que utilizan para elaborar las cajas de hamburguesas de los restaurantes de comida rápida.
Es altamente contaminante por lo que no debe ser reutilizado para usos alimenticios, si evitas su uso estarás ayudando de gran manera al medio ambiente.

7. Otros plásticos y materiales compuestos.

En este grupo de plásticos se encuentran el PC (Policarbonato) característico de los biberones, CD's y DVD's. También se clasifican en esta categoría los nuevos plásticos biodegradables que son fabricados a base de almidones vegetales. Los envases de este tipo no son reutilizables, sin embargo los que son etiquetados como "PLA" son biodegradables, es decir que no se reciclan pero pueden ser utilizados en composta.

Esperamos que con este artículo puedas identificar fácilmente los tipos de plástico que se encuentran en nuestra vida cotidiana y así tomar las medidas necesarias para reutilizarlos, ayudar a que sean reciclados o bien, evitando su consumo.

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SIETE TIPOS DE PLÁSTICO Y LO QUE DEBES SABER SOBRE ELLOS

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Si bien es cierto que las envolturas y envases de plástico pueden resultar dañinos para el medio ambiente, es importante conocer más a fondo acerca de este tema para saber qué podemos hacer al respecto para evitar o reducir el impacto ambiental que pueden llegar a generar.

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Reunión 3 de abril a las 12:30hrs con Miss Lili, Maye y Profesor Charlie, para terminar el plan de acción.

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Reunión 3 de abril a las 12:30hrs con Miss Lili, Maye y Profesor Charlie, para terminar el plan de acción.

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Meet doesn't work on your browser

To join the video meeting

Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to

or the

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Meet doesn't work on your browser To join the video meeting Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to or the

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Encontré este sitio, por favor lean el contenido de la página y hagan anotaciones importantes.
Gracias por el esfuerzo

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Juan Vicente Nava Bautista, Ana Laura Carapia Carapia y Francisca Vidal-García

La situación actual de nuestro planeta es muy delicada. A medida que las actividades humanas crecen y las necesidades materiales se hacen más complejas, aumenta nuestro impacto en el ambiente y los recursos naturales. Todo esto ha traído como consecuencia que se rompan los equilibrios imprescindibles para la continuidad de la vida en la Tierra. La degradación de los ecosistemas, la contaminación y la sobreexplotación de los recursos naturales son problemáticas que afectan a todo el planeta y a todo ser vivo que lo habita, incluyendo a los humanos.

Sin duda es nuestra responsabilidad detener, o al menos disminuir el deterioro ambiental, los pequeños cambios en nuestros hábitos diarios son imprescindibles para conseguir un planeta más saludable y que las generaciones actuales y venideras disfruten de los recursos en armonía con el resto de seres vivos.

La regla de las tres erres, también conocida como las tres erres de la ecología o simplemente 3R, es una propuesta sobre hábitos de consumo. Durante la Cumbre del G8 en junio de 2004, el Primer Ministro del Japón, Koizumi Junichiro, presentó la Iniciativa, y explicó que ésta busca construir una sociedad orientada hacia el reciclaje. En abril de 2005 se llevó a cabo una asamblea de ministros en la que los representantes de más de 20 países discutieron la manera en que se podrían implementar de manera internacional acciones relacionadas a las tres erres.

Este concepto hace referencia a estrategias para el manejo de los residuos que se producen todos los días en nuestro hogar o en la industria, buscando ser más sustentables con el ambiente y reducir el volumen de basura generada.
Reducir
Se refiere principalmente a consumir menos, evitar comprar objetos nuevos o de moda que seguramente terminarán en la basura, y por lo tanto, contaminando. También se refiere a disminuir nuestro gasto de agua y energía, ya que las fuentes actuales son altamente contaminantes. De este modo agotaremos menos recursos, generaremos menos contaminación y basura y, desde luego, ganaremos en calidad de vida. Si viajamos más el transporte público o en bicicleta, usamos pilas recargables, apagamos las luces y desconectamos los aparatos eléctricos cuando no los utilizamos, estaremos contribuyendo al ahorro energético.
Reutilizar
Es otra de las actitudes que necesitamos poner en práctica para disminuir la contaminación y dejar de degradar el ambiente. Es necesario utilizar al máximo las cosas que ya tenemos, sin necesidad de tirarlas o destruirlas, es decir; alargar la vida de cada producto. La mayoría de los bienes pueden tener más de una vida útil, ya sea reparándolos o utilizando la imaginación para darles otro uso y de este modo evitar comprar cosas nuevas, sobre todo aquellas que están hechas de materiales contaminantes como el plástico o unicel.
Reciclar
Se trata de rescatar lo posible de un material que ya no sirve para nada (comúnmente llamado basura) y convertirlo en un producto nuevo. Es una forma en la que se reincorpora la materia prima al ciclo los materiales para crear nuevas cosas sin necesidad de gastos energéticos y sin aumentar el volumen de residuos. El reciclaje ha de volverse un hábito, para poder conseguir un equilibrio entre lo que se produce, lo que se consume y lo que se desecha, intentando siempre generar la menor cantidad posible de basura. Reciclar vidrio, materia orgánica, llantas o plástico, son algunos ejemplos.
Los beneficios que nos dan las 3 Rs
Dentro de los beneficios ambientales encontramos la disminución de residuos sólidos, el incremento de la calidad del suelo, reducción de la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero; mejorando así la calidad de aire y ayudando a que la situación del clima se estabilice.

También hay beneficios económicos, ya que los residuos sólidos pueden ser vendidos a empresas que los reciclan, ahorramos en costos en el hogar utilizando materiales reciclados. Se pueden crear diferentes artículos hechos de material reciclado como camas, sofás, sillas, mesas, lámparas, floreros, entre otros. En algunos casos, el arte de reciclar puede llegar a ser un negocio, pues se crean artículos que se venden. Por último, tenemos el beneficio social, ya que poco a poco se crea una cultura de responsabilidad con el ambiente.

Con todo esta información que tenemos ahora, antes de comprar un producto en el mercado debemos hacernos varias preguntas: ¿realmente lo necesito?, ¿este producto fue elaborado de manera que no contamine o de manera sustentable?, ¿durará mucho tiempo?, ¿contaminará al ser desechado?, ¿bajo qué circunstancias fue fabricado?, ¿existe un producto similar pero con menos empaques? La idea es que cada uno de nosotros hagamos un consumo razonado, no comprar por comprar sin mirar a quién o a qué podamos dañar.

Juan Vicente Nava Bautista y Ana Laura Carapia Carapia son estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Biología en el Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Huixquilucan, Estado de México.

Francisca Vidal-García es Estudiante de Doctorado en el Instituto de Ecología A. C.
Pie de Fotos
Figura 1. Reducimos nuestro consumo de energía cambiando los focos incandescentes por focos ahorradores y apagándolos cuando no lo necesitamos.

Figura 2. Las 3R de la Ecología

Figura 3. Podemos reutilizar diversos materiales en nuestra casa. Por ejemplo, los frascos vacíos pueden servir para hacer veladoras o adornos.

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Las tres R: Una opción para cuidar nuestro planeta

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La situación actual de nuestro planeta es muy delicada. A medida que las actividades humanas crecen y las necesidades materiales se hacen más complejas, aumenta nuestro impacto en el ambiente y los recursos naturales. Todo esto ha traído como consecuencia que se rompan los equilibrios imprescindibles para la continuidad de la vida en la Tierra.

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Rutina de pensamiento_Climb every mountain

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Les mando muchos saludos, les voy a compartir una rutina de pensamiento en la columna de cada quien para que la realicen, de acuerdo a las preguntas que se encuentran en el siguiente cuadro, esta tarea es para el viernes  3 de abril, y si  mañana si tienen dudas nos pueden preguntar, ya que Miss Lili estará con nosotros.
Muchas gracias y bonita tarde =0)

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Hola Alexa, Vale, Bruno, Diego y Fer:  Aquí les dejo unas preguntas para que indaguen un poco acerca de cómo contamina el plástico y ya que tengan las respuestas, porfa las publican en su columna. Muchas gracias y les mando saludos. 

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Hola Alexa, Vale, Bruno, Diego y Fer:  Aquí les dejo unas preguntas para que indaguen un poco acerca de cómo contamina el plástico y ya que tengan las respuestas, porfa las publican en su columna. Muchas gracias y les mando saludos. 

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1. ¿Cómo contamina el plástico al medio ambiente?

2. ¿Qué país contamina más con plástico?

3. ¿Cuál es el plástico que menos contamina?

4. ¿Qué daños causa las botellas de plástico al medio ambiente?

5. ¿Cómo contamina el unicel al medio ambiente?

6. ¿Cómo contamina el detergente al medio ambiente?

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Please join Miss Maye on this conference:

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Please join Miss Maye on this conference:

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Meet doesn't work on your browser

To join the video meeting

Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to

or the

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Meet doesn't work on your browser To join the video meeting Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to or the

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Video conference with Mr.E, tomorrow Thursday 2nd, 10:30 am.

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Video conference with Mr.E, tomorrow Thursday 2nd, 10:30 am.

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Meet doesn't work on your browser

To join the video meeting

Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to

or the

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Meet doesn't work on your browser To join the video meeting Visit meet.google.com in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge To install and use Meet on a mobile device, go to or the

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Here is the PLANNING TIMETABLE to organize our inquiries.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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We discussed some problems: People polluting and generating trash.
Not separating trash.
HWK: Be detectives. Observe your family's habits and take notes. Focus on habits that have a negative impact on  the environment.

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Hello! Tomorrow, Tuesday 10th, we will have our 3rd meeting. We will discuss the following:

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Hello! Tomorrow, Tuesday 10th, we will have our 3rd meeting. We will discuss the following:

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1. Team's name (bring your ideas)
2. Be detectives HWK. We will share our notes on our family's habits. If possible, write them on your personal column here in Padlet.
3. Our final question will be defined after we choose our topic:
Possible topic:
Overuse and waste of natural resources and moderate consumption of products.

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Hi guys:
This is our action plan. =0)

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In most of the world, including North America, we do one of two things with our ordinary garbage: burn it or bury it. Neither one is good for us or for the environment. Burning garbage in incinerators releases dangerous gases and dust (particulate matter) which contribute to global warming and pollute lakes, forests, oceans and cities half a world away from where they originated. Most incinerators in industrialized countries now remove large quantities of particles and pollutants, thus ensuring cleaner air. But the bulk of what they remove ends up in a landfill.

This site concentrates on landfills, in part because this improvement in incinerator technology has increased the pressure on landfills, and in part because a much higher proportion of garbage in North America is sent to landfills than to incinerators.

Burying garbage also causes both air and water pollution, and simply transporting it to the sites consumes an increasing amount of valuable fossil fuels, which produces more pollution and other problems.
Buried in a landfill, the typical plastic trash bag takes 1,000 years to degrade, giving off toxins as it does. These biodegradable bags - available in various sizes - decompose quickly and safely with their contents.
As a result, alternatives to the burn-or-bury option are increasingly attractive. Composting heads that list of alternatives (see Cities Embrace Composting Programs).

Is Your Landfill Full? Space Issues

It might seem that yard waste and food scraps must be amongst the more benign things you could send to your local landfill. These things are not toxic; how could they contribute to pollution? As for space, how much can these things take up? Besides, unlike an old toaster they decompose, which means that they take up less space next year than they do when they're thrown away.

All of this sounds perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, much of it is either wrong or misleading.

The Sad Saga of the Unwanted Garbage

Source: Wholistic Environmental Consulting, Ltd.
Garbage would not make most people's short-list of top comedic fare. But in the early spring of 1987 Johnny Carson made it part of his nightly monologue and the whole world laughed.

The occasion was a barge loaded with over 3,100 tons of Long Island garbage which wandered the world for three months looking for a final resting place before finally slinking back home. There it languished for another three months while suits were filed and court injunctions handed down. The garbage was finally incinerated and buried in the same landfill it would have gone to had it never left New York.

The Mobro 4000 and its hapless tug the Break of Dawn left Long Island on March 22, bound for Morehead, N.C. It's fragrant cargo was to be used for methane production. Brainchild of Alabama businessman Lowell Harrelson, the plan called for hauling plentiful Long Island garbage to less crowded environs, there to harvest methane and spread the composted waste on southern fields. Not such a bad idea perhaps, except that apparently little of it had been cleared with officials.

The governor of North Carolina banned the barge from unloading, as did Florida, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. The hunt for a dump then went international. News reports from the time carry accounts of the homeless barge forlornly circling Grand Isle, Louisiana, which measures under 8 square miles in area, including surrounding water. Cuba, Mexico and Belize all rejected the offer of Long Island trash. The barge eventually turned around and made its way back up the coast.

The legal battle lasted nearly as long as the journey itself. A month into the Mobro's wanderings, EPA officials made arrangements to inspect the decaying load and help determine its fate. But the barge ducked the appointment, instead heading for Mexican waters. American officials were apparently concerned that the garbage might be dumped at sea, which would have violated US law.

When the barge finally headed back north, environmental organizations sued. When it reached Long Island in July, Queens Councilwoman Claire Shulman sued to keep it from docking. New York State Supreme Court judges signed a restraining order halting plans to incinerate the garbage.

In the meantime, charges that some of the garbage came not from Long Island, as originally advertised, but from New York City itself, some of it even from Manhattan, had made the load even less palatable to potential dumping sites. Though it was supposed to contain primarily office refuse, rumors circulated that it might contain diapers and hazardous medical waste.

The Coast Guard weighed in, insisting that the barge would stay put until the constituents sorted things out. When that dispute was resolved, local residents protested, burning effigies of city officials in the streets. The garbage was finally incinerated in early September and the ashes were buried in the Ipswich landfill, the one originally designated to receive them.

The whole things would never have happened if Long Island hadn't been facing a landfill crisis. Because its garbage dumps were polluting groundwater, New York State passed legislation in 1983 ordering all landfills on the Island closed by 1990. Incinerators pollute the air, while trucking trash off the island costs twice as much as putting it into landfills. It's clear why Long Island officials jumped at an offer to take some of the stuff off their hands.

The extended episode is widely credited with launching the modern age of recycling and of focusing public attention on the shrinking space available in landfills.

Across most of North America, yard and food waste make up over a quarter of all the ordinary garbage we throw away. That's 25% by weight. In the U.S., that 25% is almost equally divided between yard waste (32.6 million tons, or 12.8% of all MSW) and food scraps (31.7 million tons, or 12.5%). And then there's all the other organic stuff that could be composted: all the clothing, towels, and bedding made of organic fibers, plus wood, old furniture and sawdust. Then there's paper, which at 83 million tons accounts for another 30% of municipal solid waste. As of 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, over 64% of the yard waste we throw away was recovered and composted, as was 54.5% of the paper and cardboard. Only 2.6% of food waste reached a compost heap.

In other words, well over fifty percent of our ordinary garbage could be composted, but most of it isn't.

This ordinary garbage, or Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), is household and business trash as opposed to chemical or industrial waste. It's the stuff most of us put in our trashcans at home, at school, or at work, to be picked up and hauled away: paper, packaging, food scraps, old toys, old chairs, old microwaves, lamp shades, blue-jeans and books. It includes trash from offices and restaurants. In the majority of cases across North America, it ends up in a landfill. This is in spite of the fact that 24 states, at least one province, and hundreds of municipalities now ban yard waste from landfills.

Landfills also accept certain types of commercial and even industrial waste which is one reason why the mix in them can become so toxic.

What's up in Canada?

National statistics on municipal solid waste in Canada are so hard to come by that one Saskatchewan report devoted a whole section to detailing why. Different provinces use different measurement units (cubic yards, tonnes) and there's no consistent tracking method for identifying and recording whether waste entering a landfill comes from a municipal, commercial or industrial source. Some Canadian landfills lack scales; there's no information about what gets dumped in any units. That section of the report, titled "Measurement Challenges," bears the subtitle, "Or, why I am completely bald."

Despite the hair-pulling discrepancies and omissions, some things are clear. First, the eastern provinces are doing best at waste diversion, which includes composting, recycling and programs that keeps garbage out of landfills or incinerators. See " Is composting organic waste spreading?" in EnviroStats, Statistics Canada's quarterly magazine on environmental issues (and quite readable, despite the title). Prince Edward Island has "a mandatory province-wide source-separated waste program," while Nova Scotia bans all organic waste from its landfills. Both have extensive curbside pick-up programs for organic waste, which then gets composted.

Parts of Ontario do quite well, but the plains provinces - Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta - lag seriously behind. Residents of Alberta, according to Statistics Canada (fondly abbreviated to StatCan) 2006, generated over a thousand kilograms per person in garbage in 2005; the province hopes to more than halve this, to 500 kilograms per capita by 2010. Nova Scotia, which started below Alberta's 2010 goal at 430 kilograms per capita, aims to reach 300 for 2010, for both residential and business sources. (" Measuring solid waste: Statistics: Canada's surveys and results " - PDF, p.21.)

So, how are we in the United States doing compared to other countries? Not so well. The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, which includes just about every industrialized nation on earth, tracks key environmental indicators for its 30 member countries, including generation and disposal of municipal solid waste. Compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. fares poorly and Canada even worse. In 2005, Canada came dead last in a list of seventeen "peer countries" in terms of kilograms of MSW generated per person, as reported by the Conference Board of Canada. The United States came in fifteenth.

Source: "Environment: Municipal Waste Generation" Conference Board of Canada.

Even more significant, whereas the per-capita weight of MSW generated in the U.S. has increased by only a few percent between 1990 and 2008, Canada's per-capita MSW output has increased by about 40% in the same time period. (See the graph below.)
Municipal Solid Waste:

Source: OECD "Key Environmental Indicators"

New York City and Long Island have not had any garbage barge crises recently, but they have hardly solved their garbage problems. As of 2007, New York City was exporting its garbage to five other states: New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina.

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Of course, that's not the end of the story. A fair amount of New York City's garbage also goes to landfills in northern parts of its home state, most of it by truck. Since most major roads in New York State are toll roads, drivers prefer back roads which pass through numerous small towns. Residents have not been happy with this procession of garbage trucks rumbling by in the wee hours. In May of 2008, the governor banned NYC garbage trucks from these small byways, a decision that distressed the drivers and the companies they work for. ("Truckers upset as New York governor bans trash haulers from back roads.")

The Big Apple is not alone in its struggles to find dumping spots for its garbage. The sad tale of Toronto (see the box below) illustrates the many complications and permutations that attend garbage disposal in the modern age.

The bottom line is this: establishing a landfill is an enormous and enormously expensive undertaking. It is harder and harder just to find a suitable site for a new one, especially near a major city. Reducing the amount of trash that reaches landfills and incinerators has become an urgent matter in many areas across North America. Hence the ban on yard waste, one of the easiest things to divert. We need to compost more and throw away less.

Where to put the garbage? A case study.

Toronto's landfill woes, a national embarrassment in Canada, are probably less well-known in the United States. Toronto, located in the densely-populated Golden Horseshoe region of Canada, has seen its landfill options shrink as its population burgeons. The city proper has a population of 2.5 million, making it the fifth most populous city in North America. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has a population of 5.5 million, and the Golden Horseshoe holds 8.1 million, or a quarter of Canada's population.

When the City's Keele Valley Landfill closed in 2002 filled to capacity, the city started trucking all of its solid waste to Michigan for disposal, a trip of 418 kilometers or about 260 miles one way. As a result, "the cost for waste disposal jumped from $18 per tonne to $53 per tonne." (" Human Activity and the Environment " - PDF, 2009, p.17.)

The trucking operation has been plagued by a series of accidents, legal entanglements, and embarrassments. In 2004, a senior civil engineer named Tony O'Donohue revealed that Toronto was sending sludge - partially treated biosolids including human and medical waste - and not just the solid waste that had been claimed. This was a year after the driver of a sludge truck died when he tried to open a jammed door by hand, and was buried by the suddenly-released load which carried him into the pit. The death rated a meager one-hundred-forty-seven words (link no longer active) in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Meanwhile, opposition in Michigan was mounting. In 2004, the governor signed legislation allowing the state "emergency powers to close its border to waste in the event of imminent and substantial health, safety and environmental threats." A couple years later, one of its senators sought federal legislation to halt the influx of garbage, (2006). That same year, the Department of Homeland Security became concerned with un-inspected loads crossing the border (2006). Then in 2007, Michigan residents filed a class-action suit over the stench from the landfill, largely a result of sludge dumping which was thereafter banned.

When Toronto bought Green Lane Landfill Site only 200 kilometers from Toronto near London, Ontario, that city got up in arms. The Oneida and Chippewa tribes of the Thames Nation, whose lands border the site, brought suit before settling for an undisclosed amount. The Munsee, another First Nation, are pursuing an independent settlement.

Is Your Landfill Leaking? Pollution Issues

"Landfill liners are temporary and chlorinated benzene in PCBs can cause leaks in certain liners." - Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy, May 16, 2000 Toronto Meeting Minutes.

The environmental impact of landfills is a complicated issue. As pointed out above, composting household and garden waste helps prevent landfills from becoming overfilled which lessens the danger that they will leak into water tables or waterways. It also saves the gas or other fuel that would be used to transport those wastes and prevents that much carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and particulate matter from entering our atmosphere. This is not a minor concern; large cities must sometimes truck garbage hundreds of miles. (See the section above for the painful details.)

Space is not the only issue. Municipal landfills can pollute air, water and soil. And yard and table waste actually contribute significantly to all of these pollution problems. Why? First, because they are wet. Secondly, because they are organic.

Wet Garbage = Water Pollution

Wet garbage, including yard waste which is 50 to 70 % water, adds to the toxic stew of chemicals - household cleaners, antiperspirants, nail polish, paint and so on - that mix in a landfill. In old, unlined landfills, this leachate, diluted and made more mobile by rainwater, percolated down to the bottom of the fill. There, it would sink into the soil, spreading downwards and outwards in a characteristic brush-stroke shape known as a plume, contaminating soil and water as it moved. (See the Washington State U. Extension publication called " Fertilizing with Yard Trimmings " - PDF, pp.2-3.)

Closing a landfill or capping it with cement does not stop its plume from advancing. Modern, sanitary landfills are usually lined to prevent such pollution and the leachate is drawn off and treated. However, it is naive to assume that a liner will never fail. In 1987, the EPA estimated that eventually any liner would leak (US EPA Federal Register, Aug 30, 1988, Vol.53, No.168). In 2000, a joint Canada/U.S. group working to monitor and reduce PCBs in the Great Lakes wrote that &quot;landfill liners are temporary and chlorinated benzene in PCBs can cause leaks in certain liners.&quot; That it would not do so immediately isn't reassuring. The longer a landfill is capped and abandoned, the less likely it is to be adequately monitored and a leak detected.

Organic Garbage = Air Pollution

Air pollution may seem an unlikely consequence of landfills, but in fact it is a major problem. The primary culprit is anything organic such as yard and food waste.

Waste at landfills is usually compressed to save space. Each day's deposit is covered with a layer of dirt to discourage insects and rodents and to help shed rain and thus minimize leachate. So far, so good. But the result is an almost oxygen-free environment. When organic materials decompose in such anaerobic conditions they produce methane, a greenhouse gas.

Since composting produces carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas, it's reasonable to suspect that the compost/landfill choice is a classic six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other situation. The first produces carbon dioxide, the second produces methane. What's the difference between them? Is it really worth the time and effort to keep organics out of landfills?

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It does matter where the stuff degrades and how. CO2 is a major pollutant and a major problem. But methane is worse. According to the EPA, methane "remains in the atmosphere for 9-15 years" and "is over 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 100-year period." Methane is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide.

As recently as 2003, the highest producer of methane was landfills (EPA). They're still one of the top three sources, the others being cows burps, or enteric fermentation, and leakage from the production of natural gas. Landfills have dipped to second place, largely because an increasing number of them have systems in place to collect the methane, which is either burned off or used to produce electrical power.

In 2006, the EPA reports that US landfills emitted almost 6 teragrams of methane, equal to over six and a half million U.S. tons. This is equivalent to about 125.7 teragrams of CO2 in its effect on global warming or 138,560,531 tons.

Flaring methane - burning it as it is collected from the landfill - may seem both wasteful and horribly polluting. And it is. But if you bear in mind that methane is so much more dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide, then the practice that converts CH4 to CO2 appears in a different light.

When do landfills stop producing methane? No one really knows. A number of sources now suggest that landfills continue to produce methane in dangerous amounts well past the point at which it is economical to collect it and long after the 30 year period that the EPA requires closed landfills be monitored.

Burning off the methane at landfills produces CO2, still a greenhouse gas, but not as bad as methane. In terms of making a long-term dent in global warming - quickly - landfill improvements offer one of the best opportunities around.
Related Articles:
Composting Toilets: What They Are + Top Picks for 2023
5 Best Biodegradable Garbage Bags in 2023 for Different Uses
The Best Biodegradable Soap Options You Must Try in 2023

Related Questions

What products to compost

Hello,

You will be able to source all of the essential elements in order to build a great compost pile without having to look too far! As long as your carbon to nitrogen ratio is optimal (25-30:1) your compost pile will be breaking down properly. Here are some lists of acceptable additions:

Carbon Rich Material "Browns"
Cardboard (free of dyes)
Corn stalks
Fruit waste
Leaves
Newspaper
Peat Moss
Saw dust
Stems & twigs
Straw

Nitrogen Rich Material "Greens"
Alfalfa/Clover/Hay
Algae
Coffee grounds
Kitchen food waste
Garden waste
Grass clippings
Hedge clippings
Manures
Vegetable scraps
Weeds (that have NOT gone to seed)

​Things to Avoid
Meats
Bones
Fats/oils/grease
​Diseased plant material
Colored paper
Coal/charcoal
Cat/dog waste
Manures from carnivorous animals
Onions
Garlic
Citrus peels

As for the rhododendron and holly leaves, you can definitely put them in your compost pile. However, it is a good idea to really chop or shred them up, as they take much longer to break down due to their fibrous and waxy make up. It really depends on how quickly you are trying to create usable compost. It might be a good idea to have a separate pile going that you incorporate those leaves into and another pile that you do not. That way you can have a pile you know will rapidly break down into garden goodness and have yet another ready to use later on. Good luck!

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In most of the world, including North America, we do one of two things with our ordinary garbage: burn it or bury it. Neither one is good for us or for the environment. Burning garbage in incinerators releases dangerous gases and dust (particulate matter) which contribute to global warming and pollute lakes, forests, oceans and cities half a world away from where they originated.

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Since early 2016, I have traveled to six major cities around the world (Jakarta, Tokyo, Lagos, New York, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam) to investigate how they manage - or mismanage - their waste. There are some remarkable differences. And a question emerges: Is this just garbage, or is it a resource? The world generates at least 3.5 million tons of solid waste a day, 10 times the amount a century ago, according to World Bank researchers. If practices aren't changed, that figure will grow to 11 million tons by the end of the century, the researchers estimate. On average, Americans throw away their own body weight in trash every month. In Japan, meanwhile, the typical person produces only two-thirds as much. It's difficult to find comparable figures for the trash produced by mega-cities. But clearly, New York generates by far the most waste of the cities I visited: People in the broader metropolitan area throw away 33 million tons per year, according to a report by a global group of academics published in 2015 in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences. That's 15 times the Lagos metropolitan area, their study found. ¶ With a sharp increase in the world population and many economies growing, we are producing more waste than ever. In Europe and the United States our trash is largely invisible once it's tossed; in other parts of the world it is more easily seen in waste dumps, sometimes in the middle of cities.

Since early 2016, I have traveled to six major cities around the world (Jakarta, Tokyo, Lagos, New York, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam) to investigate how they manage - or mismanage - their waste. There are some remarkable differences. And a question emerges: Is this just garbage, or is it a resource?

The world generates at least 3.5 million tons of solid waste a day, 10 times the amount a century ago, according to World Bank researchers. If nothing is done, that figure will grow to 11 million tons by the end of the century, the researchers estimate. On average, Americans throw away their own body weight in trash every month. In Japan, meanwhile, the typical person produces only two-thirds as much. It's difficult to find comparable figures for the trash produced by mega-cities. But clearly, New York generates by far the most waste of the cities I visited: People in the broader metropolitan area throw away 33 million tons per year, according to a report by a global group of academics published in 2015 in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences. That's 15 times the Lagos metropolitan area, their study found.

With a sharp increase in the world population and many economies growing, we are producing more waste than ever. In Europe and the United States our trash is largely invisible once it's tossed; in other parts of the world it is more obvious, in the form of waste dumps, sometimes in the middle of cities.

Dumps are a problem because they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Burning trash outdoors is also harmful, to the environment and people's health.

Landfills and waste dumps are quickly filling up - with many of the largest receiving on average 10,000 tons of waste per day.

As a country becomes richer, the composition of its waste changes - more packaging, electronic components, broken toys and appliances, and relatively less organic material.

New York and San Francisco now have a goal of "zero waste" to be achieved by a reduction in trash and more recycling, but they still have a long way to go. In New York, plastic shopping bags are still provided in almost every store. The world produces over 300 million tons of plastic each year, of which only a small fraction is recycled.

By 2050, there will be so much plastic floating in the ocean it will outweigh the fish, according to a study issued by the World Economic Forum. Scientists estimate that there are at least 5.25 trillion plastic particles - weighing nearly 270,000 tons - floating in the oceans right now.

On average, a person in the United States or Western Europe uses about 220 pounds of plastic per year, according to the Worldwatch Institute, a research organization. The packaging industry, growing thanks to the rise of online stores and other factors, poses a huge challenge.

About one-third of the food produced in the world gets thrown away or otherwise wasted, according to U.N. data. The Dutch toss out the equivalent of over 400,000 loaves of bread per day, on average. The United States wastes by far the most food, due in part to fast-food restaurants at which employees and consumers dump unsold items or leftovers.

Most waste in Africa, the United States and Asia ends up in dumps, many of which are already at capacity. Europe sends less of its waste to dumps or landfills and more to incinerators. While some of them are relatively clean, many are a threat to the environment and public health. Tokyo has more than 20 garbage incinerators in the metropolitan area. The city says they are not hazardous to public health, because they burn mostly organic material and use an advanced system to filter out damaging gases.

But if the world is not prepared to think about waste reduction and actually treat garbage as a resource, future generations will drown in their own waste.

In Jakarta, nowhere to go but up

Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, has grown extremely fast in recent years, partly because of a national economic boom. Most of Jakarta's waste ends up at Bantar Gebang, one of the biggest landfills in the world: It covers 272 acres and receives over 6,000 tons of trash per day.

The thousands of people who scavenge at Bantar Gebang work in dangerous conditions, navigating mountains of unstable trash at risk of toppling in avalanches of garbage.

Jakarta doesn't have incinerators and has no space for another landfill. And the scavengers who work in the streets and at the landfill play an important role in recycling, in a city with hardly any formal recycling industry.

Waste flowing into the canals and rivers of Jakarta also causes issues. The waterways clog, causing extensive flooding. For the past two years, Jakarta has made a big effort to clean the garbage from its waterways.

Indonesia is one of the world's biggest sources of plastic that is dumped into the oceans.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

A bold goal in the Big Apple: 'Zero Waste'

The New York metropolitan area produces 33 million tons of garbage per year, according to a group of global scientists that calculated all the trash being tossed out by the city and its sprawling suburbs and exurbs. That puts it well ahead of the rest of the world's major mega-cities, according to the researchers.

The United States is one of the planet's biggest generators of waste, and New York presents a particular challenge because it is so densely populated. In most parts of the world, growing wealth is associated with an increased output of trash. But in the United States, the poorer population also contributes a considerable amount of garbage, much of it fast-food packaging. Food waste is also a huge issue, in New York and the rest of the country.

Despite its problems, New York does better in some ways than other U.S. cities when it comes to trash: Paper, plastic bottles and cans are often separated for recycling, even though the recycling industry is limited in size. Most of New York's waste goes to landfills or to incinerators out of state.

Under Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), New York City has begun its "Zero Waste" initiative, which among other things will aim to reduce the amount of non-compostable trash and improve recycling. The city's goal is to eliminate the transfer of garbage to out-of-state landfills by 2030.

In recycling and management, New York is more advanced than many other American cities, but the sheer amount of garbage it generates would be difficult for any municipal government to deal with.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

Lagos works to slow a rising tide

Lagos has a population of around 21 million people but produces only around 2.5 million tons of waste a year, according to a study by a global group of academics published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences. Some estimates are higher. One of the fastest-growing cities in the world, Lagos struggles not only with how to deal with its own waste but with garbage sent to Nigeria illegally from Europe and the United States.

The biggest landfill in Lagos, Olusosun, is near capacity, and there is no viable alternative set to take its place in the near future. It receives about 3,000 to 5,000 tons of trash per day, officials say.

The thousands of scavengers who work at the landfill help the recycling efforts, albeit under harrowing conditions. What looks apocalyptic is actually a well-organized work site. What is surprising is that the landfill doesn't smell as bad as others do around the world. This is largely due to the fact that Nigerians hardly waste any food.

The city is planning to close the landfill and build transfer and sorting stations and incinerators - as well as another major dump 40 miles away, in the city of Badagry - but these steps will take years. In the meantime in some areas of Lagos, people use waste to create land, building homes on it.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

Read more about the Olusosun landfill

In Lagos, trash is both a curse and a treasured commodity. At a massive dump, thousands make a living sorting through garbage piled 10 stories high. Read story

Short on space, Tokyo gets proactive

The Tokyo metropolitan area is one of the most populous in the world, with at least 36 million people, and produces around 12 million tons of waste a year, according to a report published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences.

Constrained by a lack of space, Tokyo puts a lot of emphasis on recycling. It has 48 incinerators, which also convert garbage into energy. Authorities claim that the facilities are very clean and don't pose a threat to public health. Households separate their waste into categories - such as burnable, nonburnable, bottles and cans, and oversize items - that are collected on different days.

There are 12 landfills, the largest of which is on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay and is expected to last for about 50 years.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

In Sao Paulo, relying on people power

About 21 million people live in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area in Brazil. As the number of middle- and upper-class residents has grown over the past decade, Sao Paulo has produced ever more waste.

Most of it has ended up at landfills.

Sao Paulo is one of the few cities where "garbage picker/scavenger" is an officially recognized profession. Such workers are organized in cooperatives and collect mainly plastic, cans and paper from the streets, to be sold to companies that handle recycling. The scavengers are seen as a solution to the problem.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

Amsterdam looks to burn less, recycle more

Amsterdam has a population of around 900,000, a number that swells to over 2 million if the surrounding area is included.

Much of what people throw in the garbage goes to an incinerator, with metals removed. There are plans by the end of this year to open a new facility that will take out plastics and other recyclables, but it will not be able to handle all the city's garbage.

The incinerator also receives British household waste: Britain doesn't have enough incinerators, and Amsterdam has surplus capacity. Because the Dutch use waste as a source of fuel, they might be less likely to separate out recyclable material, burning it instead.

Paper and glass are pretty well separated by the residents of Amsterdam, and they are starting to set aside plastic. At shops you have to pay for plastic bags. About 28 percent of the city's waste is recycled.

Food waste is a huge issue in Amsterdam and around the world. The Dutch alone throw away more than 400,000 loaves of bread per day.

- Kadir van Lohuizen

Kadir van Lohuizen is an Amsterdam-based freelance photojournalist and founding member of the social documentary photography agency Noor. He began his career in 1988 as a conflict photographer and has been internationally recognized for his long-term projects on life along the world's major rivers, the perils of rising sea levels, the blood-diamond industry and the impact of migration in the Americas.

Photo and videos by Kadir van Lohuizen/Noor. Photo editing by Nick Kirkpatrick and MaryAnne Golon. Video editing by Sarah Parnass. Content editing by Mary Beth Sheridan. Design and development by Brian Gross and Courtney Kan.

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Since early 2016, I have traveled to six major cities around the world (Jakarta, Tokyo, Lagos, New York, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam) to investigate how they manage - or mismanage - their waste. There are some remarkable differences. And a question emerges: Is this just garbage, or is it a resource?

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Margalef nos introduce los conceptos basicos de la ecologia, este libro es perfecto para quien se inicia el tema y quiera adquirir una vision general

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hello what I have seen today is that in my house there is only one trash can there is no recycle can

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hello what I have seen today is that in my house there is only one trash can there is no recycle can

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and then I saw that every day the trash can is full

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and then I saw that every day the trash can is full

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Hi in my house we have a lot of bottles

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¿Has oído hablar de la regla de las 3 erres? A través de ella podemos lograr un mundo más sostenible ya que estaremos ayudando al medio ambiente: Reduciendo, Reutilizando y Reciclando.

Nuestras acciones diarias y nuestros hábitos de consumo son muy importantes,todos somos responsablesa la hora de cuidar el medio ambiente.Las 3 erres -o 3R- forman parte de una propuesta que surge inicialmente de la mano de la ONG Greenpeace. Te contamos qué significado tiene cada una de ellas. ¡Sigue leyendo!

Reducir

Reducir nuestro consumo a nivel de bienes y de gasto energético supone que estamos contribuyendo de una forma importante a disminuir su impacto sobre el medio ambiente. Al fin y a cabo, si reducimos el problema, reducimos el impacto que puede causar.

Llevarlo a la práctica es sencillo si tratamos de ser unos consumidores responsables y compramos únicamente lo que realmente necesitamos, guiándonos por escoger aquellos productos elaborados lo más cerca posible - ya que así reducimos el gasto energético de transporte - y aquellos cuyos materiales se puedan reciclar y que no presenten excesivo embalaje o envoltorio. ¿Habías pensdo alguna vez en lo mucho que contaminamos el medio ambiente sin daros cuenta?

Con respecto al gasto energético ya sabemos la importancia del uso de bombillas de bajo consumo, de no dejar los aparatos encendidos ni la calefacción cuando no estemos en casa, así como de los electrodomésticos de bajo consumo. ¡Conciénciate y conciencia a los tuyos de su importancia!

Y tú, ¿tienes algún truco para reducir el consumo de agua en casa? Existen varios, pero aquí te damos uno: Instala perlizadores o aireadores en los grifos de la cocina y el baño, y podrás ahorrar hasta un 50% de agua. Son filtros que se enroscan en el grifo y que permiten que al abrirlos salga un chorro de agua a presión porque mezclan el agua con el aire. ¡Compruébalo!

Reutilizar

Reutilizar es cambiar el chip en nuestros hábitos de compra y no guiarnos por la idea de "comprar, usar y tirar", a la que estamos cada vez más acostumbrados. Reutilizar es darle una segunda vida a un producto. Así que antes de tirar un objeto que tienes en casa plantéate si no puedes darle otra utilidad: estarás ayudando al medio ambiente y a tu economía. ¡Seguramente encontrarás más de los que imaginas!

¿Y si reutilizamos por ejemplo una caja de fruta?Sólo tienes que dar alas a tu creatividad, confiar en ti y pasar un rato agradable transformando un objetivo aparentemente inservible en un producto útil para tu hogar como puede ser una estantería o una caja para que los pequeños guarden sus juguetes o peluches. Ennuestro blog podrás encontrar ideas fáciles y originales para reutilizar productos cotidianos como ropa o tarros de cristal. Lo mejor de todo es que los niños también pueden participar e intervenir en el proceso: ¡Su imaginación no tiene límites!

Reciclar

Colocar cada residuo en su contenedor (amarillo, verde, azul y gris) es un gesto sencillo que va a contribuir a poder generar nuevos productos a través del reciclaje y disminuir de este modo el uso de materias primas para poder elaborarlos. Además, reduce los gases y tóxicos que puedan generarse durante la fabricación de nuevos productos.

Recuerda que aparte de colocar los residuos habituales en su respectivo contenedor hay elementos especialmente tóxicos como las pilas o los electrodomésticos que tienen que llevarse a puntos específicos de recogida.

Puedes también apoyar las campañas de diversas fundaciones y ONG que persiguen no sólo cuidar el medio ambiente sino también colaborar con sus proyectos gracias a los ingresos que se generen. Por ejemplo Oxfam Intermón y Eurekamovil quieren que conviertas tu viejo móvil en semillas, libros escolares o bidones de agua ayudando así a mejorar la situación de comunidades desfavorecidas.

Reducir, reutilizar y reciclar es más que fácil: puedes hacerlo a diario y, además, tendrás la satisfacción de que tu aportación contribuye a un mundo más limpio y sostenible. No olvides convertirlo en un hábito también entre los tuyos. ¡Comenzad desde hoy a practicar las 3R y... reivindicadlas!

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Reducir, reutilizar y reciclar: descubre las claves de un mundo más sostenible | Ingredientes que Suman

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Reducir, reutilizar y reciclar son las claves para proteger el medio ambiente. Practicarlas es una tarea sencilla y una de nuestras responsabilidades.

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Cada vez son más las personas que hacen compost para reducir los desechos orgánicos que producen. Sin embargo, para otros este sistema puede resultar bastante complejo para realizarlo en sus casas o departamentos. Por lo mismo, hoy queremos presentarles diversas alternativas para hacer compostaje, donde algunas incluso ofrecen la posibilidad de pagar por este servicio a domicilio. ¡Conoce aquí cuáles son y en qué consisten!
Según un estudio de GFK Adimark realizado en 2015, los chilenos generamos 16,9 millones de toneladas de basura al año. Esto significa que cada persona produce más de un kilo de basura al día, lo que nos convierte en el líder de Sudamérica en generación de basura per cápita. No es novedad entonces que lo sustentable esté de moda, ya que según el mismo estudio, un 90% de esa basura podría reciclarse de manera ecológica.

Sólo un 17% de los chilenos recicla, pero aún menor es el número de personas que hacen compost. Según el censo de 2012, sólo un 4,7% de la población declaró usar este sistema para reducir su basura orgánica. Esta forma de reciclaje, desconocida para muchos, funciona separando los desechos orgánicos para hacerlos pasar por un proceso de fermentación. Al final del ciclo, se obtiene un tipo de tierra que es muy nutritiva para las plantas.

Pero en seis años esto ha comenzado a cambiar, incluso a nivel municipal. El año pasado, Providencia, La Reina y Puente Alto fueron las primeras comunas de Santiago en implementar sistemas de compost.

¿Qué opciones hay si queremos reducir nuestra basura orgánica y hacer compost? Acá te mostramos distintas iniciativas.

De la cocina al jardín

Son las cuatro de la tarde en Santiago, pero para Constanza Zapata aún queda mucho de día laboral. De lunes a jueves, tiene que hacer el retiro de los más de 200 baldes con basura orgánica de los clientes que tiene NAMUNTU, su emprendimiento de compost y lombricultura. El sistema funciona en base a baldes herméticos con capacidad de cuatro litros, donde las personas ponen sus desechos orgánicos, como las cáscaras de fruta, restos de verduras, cáscaras de huevos, entre otras cosas. A través de una membresía, los clientes tienen un retiro semanal del balde, lo que evita que la basura llegue al punto de descomposición. Ese balde es lavado y devuelto a las casas para repetir el proceso.

©NAMUNTU

Una vez que Constanza retira los baldes, los lleva a un terreno fuera de Santiago, donde hace el proceso de compost y lombricultura, lo que ella llama "compost en estado avanzado". El compost se hace en pequeños cerros, para reducir el volumen de los desechos. Luego, ese material se arroja a las lombrices y ahí comienza el trabajo principal. " Las lombrices absorben las bacterias que surgen en la descomposición y secretan humus, una sustancia muy nutritiva para las plantas, que tiene un tiempo de maduración de seis meses ", explica. A través de las membresías, los clientes reciben el humus cuatro meses después de ingresados al club y al inicio de cada estación del año.

Los desechos de cocina no son la única materia prima que puede compostarse. Otra alternativa es utilizar los desechos de jardín, como pasto, tierra, hojas o flores. Es esto lo que Matías Bravo observó mientras trabajaba en los veranos en Toronto, Canadá. Fue así como surgió la idea de crear Karübag, un sistema de bolsas para residuos orgánicos de jardín, con retiro semanal. "La persona la ocupa para los desechos de jardín, nosotros hacemos la recolección y se va a compostaje. Después les damos una cajita o la misma bolsa con el compost, una vez al mes", explica Bravo.

©Karübag

En un comienzo, el modelo de negocio era vender sólo la bolsa, que es de un papel doble craft y tiene una capacidad de 110 litros. "Estuvimos en conversaciones con muchas municipalidades, pero no estaban interesadas por ahora. Ahí fue cuando nos dimos cuenta de que la gente podía aportar su granito de arena y empezó el sistema de retiro", cuenta.

El ciclo de la bolsa Karübag termina cuando se devuelve el compost a las personas, pero sucede a menudo que hay clientes que no quieren el compost o no lo necesitan tan seguido. Todo eso se guarda para donarlo a entidades de reforestación. "Todavía estamos juntando la cantidad, unas 15 toneladas, para donarle el proyecto completo a una fundación", comenta Matías.

Educar para reciclar

En el mundo educacional, Kyklos es una de las iniciativas más conocidas de reciclaje. Ellos se encargan de llevar programas medioambientales a colegios. En sus planes, también incluyen una unidad complementaria de compost y lombricultura. " Lo que se hace es enseñarles a los niños el proceso de descomposición y ellos van haciendo su propia compostera ", explica Nora Kúsulas, Directora de Educación de Kyklos. Además, en muchos casos se trabaja con los casinos de los colegios, para reducir los desechos orgánicos de comida de manera sustentable.

Así como los colegios con los que trabaja Kyklos, son muchos los establecimientos que han implementado esta unidad, ya sea fuera de clases o dentro de ciencias naturales. Todo esto, a pesar de que la Ley de Reciclaje (20.920), también conocida como Ley REP, no incluye el compost como forma de reducción de desechos.
Compost en comunidad
Pero más allá de estas alternativas, existe la posibilidad de realizar el compost en casa construyendo o comprando su propia compostera o lombricera, o bien organizándose con los vecinos para aplicar este proceso en comunidad.

Así es el caso de Vicente Pérez, estudiante de agronomía, quien junto a los vecinos y personal de su edificio en Providencia instalaron un sistema de compostaje artesanal en el jardín. Todo surgió por idea del jardinero, quien hace meses hizo un hoyo profundo en un rincón escondido del terreno y desde ahí se ha encargado de revolver el material que se acumula. "Acá viven hartas personas mayores, que no enganchan mucho. Pero últimamente han llegado matrimonios jóvenes que han empezado a usar el sistema", comenta. En primavera, abonan el jardín del edificio con la tierra que sacan de esto.

Vicente Pérez ©Magdalena Ovalle

Al ser este un sistema más artesanal, no usan lombrices, porque requieren de más cuidado. En cambio, se han llenado de chanchitos de tierra. "El compost bien hecho tiene más exigencias. Por ejemplo, no se pueden tirar cítricos, porque alteran el pH", explica Vicente. Aun así, acá los desechos se descomponen bien, y los vecinos que participan en el sistema bajan día por medio a dejar su basura orgánica.

Tanto Vicente Pérez, como Constanza Zapata (NAMUNTU) y Matías Bravo (Karübag), coinciden en que se está evidenciando un cambio cultural. "Pasa por un tema generacional, que nosotros los jóvenes, somos los que vamos a empezar, pero somos los que recién estamos saliendo a trabajar", comenta Zapata. En Kyklos, ven a los niños como agentes de cambio y afirman que han tenido excelentes resultados, pero que aún falta mucho. "A nivel nacional es necesario que el Ministerio de Educación y el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente conversen, que se planteen los objetivos y que se incluyan estos temas de manera transversal, no sólo en ciencias naturales", concluye Nora Kúsulas.

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3 alternativas sustentables para tratar nuestra basura orgánica | Ladera Sur

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Cada vez son más las personas que hacen compost para reducir los desechos orgánicos que producen. Sin embargo, para otros este sistema puede resultar bastante complejo para realizarlo en sus casas o departamentos. Por lo mismo, hoy queremos presentarles diversas alternativas para hacer compostaje, donde algunas incluso ofrecen la posibilidad de pagar por este servicio a domicilio.

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