The REAL costs of solid Waste Management

options to reduce solid waste. No one

land will make financially feasible to

wants to live near of a waste disposal

reuse and recycle more resources.

site, be it a sanitary landfill for,

There is no such a thing as waste.

municipal waste, an incinerator that

Behind this concept waste would not

burns urban waste, or hazardous-waste

exist because it would not be produced

disposal

chemical

or, if produced, would be a resource to

materials. Another major limiting factor

be used again. This is the zero waste

People in Puerto Rico and other

is the cost disposal. According to the

movement. Some considers this as an

parts of the world are facing a serious

book Earth as a Living Planet from

unreasonable in waste management

waste-disposal problem. Because we

Botkin and Keller disposal or treatment

area. But Australia just catch this one

are producing a great deal of waste and

costs about 20$ billion every year, its

and propose to have zero waste.

the acceptable space for permanent

one of our most costly environmental

Another option choose Netherlands

disposal is limited. Existing sites are

expenditures.

called: Pay as you throw. A large part

By: Silvette Mayorqun Santos

being filled and it results extremely

hard to site a new one. Theres many

operation

Increasing

for

costs

of

raw

materials, energy, transportation and

of the planning involves taxation of

waste.

As we are attempting to produce

Club, Basura Cero, Madres de Negro,

Puerto Rico. We all need oxygen and

sustainable economic development on

el Colegio de Mdicos Cirujanos de

quality of air is impresindible to be

local and global scales we need to

Puerto Rico, Federacin de Maestros,

alive and being healthy.

acknowledge the industrial ecology

Movimiento Independentista Nacional

based on application on science and

Hostosiano,

Movimiento

technology alone is not adequate to

Soberanistas,

Concilio

achieve sustainability. Science can

Evanglicas, Sociedad Puertorriquea

provide potential solutions to problems

de Trabajadores, Comisin Quinto

we face, but the solutions we choose is

Centenario

influenced by a reflection of our values.

Arecibo residents has been join to the

There are plans to build an

incinerator on the cities of Barceloneta
and Arecibo. Plus exist more projects
to build more on another countries.
Some groups Environmenatalists like
Ciudadanos en Defensa del Ambiente,
Comit de Defensa de la Poza, Sierra

de Arecibo

de

Unin
Iglesias

2015

and

activity Vigilia por el aire limpio

which aims to persuade the governor
Alejandro Garca Padilla to prevent the
granting of building permits for the
incinerator. This because, it could not
only affect Arecibo and Barceloneta but
its impact would extend to most of

According to reports from the

various

groups

opposed

to

this

construction, the incinerator would

burn about 2,100 tons of domestic
waste daily. The substances emitted to
air as dioxins and furans and heavy
metals, including lead, in an area that
has been declared contaminated with
lead by EPA. Opponents also fear the
production of toxic ash that depend on
a landfill to be discarded, even though
those that favor its existence ensures
that end with the landfill problem that
exists in Puerto Rico.

Citation:
1) Daniel Rivera Vargas. Convocan vigilia contra incineradoras en La Fortaleza. El Nuevo Da. (November 16, 2014)
http://www.elnuevodia.com/convocanvigiliacontraincineradorasenlafortaleza-1893368.html
2) Nydia Bauz. Dormirn frente a la Fortaleza para protestar. El Nuevo Da.

(November 17, 2014)

http://www.elnuevodia.com/dormiranfrentealafortalezaparaprotestar-1894087.html
3) Botkin, D. at al. Environmental Science; Earth as a living Planet Eight Edition University of California, Santa Barbara.
(2009)