Gambia Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (Part II)

Most waste experts agree, the first step in waste control is to reduce, reuse and recycle.  Reduce refers to lessening the amount of items or resources that are consumed, using only the amount that is needed, and looking for alternatives that will lessen our use.

Recycle means to process old, used items in order that the material can be used to make new products. Examples of things that are often recycled are glass, plastic, newspapers, aluminum cans, used motor oil, and batteries.  It is imperative that Gambia reduces waste in every sector including residential waste; construction waste; retail waste including retail stores, hotels and restaurants and bars; medical waste; pharmaceutical waste, office waste; automotive waste, and computer and electronics waste.  

Reduce

One of the best ways to reduce consumable waste is to reduce packaging.  The more packaging, the more waste.  That is why selling in bulk form is more sustainable than packaged goods.  Bulk products reduce waste and retail cost.  

Items like grains and flours, sugar, beans, cereals, honey, oil and water can be sold bulk.  Hygiene systems would have to be institutionalized by retailers so that products are not handled by the human hand.  Effective storage technologies have now been developed to protect bulk products from moisture and pests and therefore packaging is not needed.  

All those plastic bottles containing pharmaceutical drugs just pile up on the earth, why can’t pharmacies buy drugs bulk and dispense them in biodegradable packaging?  

We all can commit to using biodegradable reusable bags for our shopping thereby reducing plastic bag pollution.

This can be done simply by returning to Gambian practice of taking baskets to shop and carry our purchases.  Other biodegradable bags can be made of baobab, cotton or other natural fiber. There are too many waste reduction approaches to discuss here.  If, however, Gambia does not become aggressive in the development of waste reduction policies and practices, future generations will have to address the waste nightmare created today.

Reuse

Gambia also needs to be systematic about reuse practices especially of glass and plastic containers.  Exactly what are the restaurants and hotels doing with their glass and plastic waste?  We should reuse all glass and plastic containers?  Instead of merchants in the market selling liquids like oil and palm oil in plastic bags, why can’t they reuse glass bottles?  

Perhaps one of our greatest assets goes into the waste stream, which is our organic matter waste.  All the raw peals from vegetables like oranges, onions and potatoes or raw egg shells could be composted for use in the agriculture sector.  It is even possible to put arid soils into reuse with the use of organic matter.  

Our organic matter waste is all around us, dropped tree leaves that we rack up and throw-away to the waste from raw fish throw away.  Even coffee grinds are good for the soil.

Any RAW (UNCOOKED) organic matter builds the soil.   We could do this by instituting a compost collection system that is tied to our waste collection system.  People can also make personal non-assisted commitments to composting for their personal use and to share with others.  Believe me, your fruit trees and other plants will flourish with a top dressing of compost.  

Composting is easy.  Just keep your raw waste in a bucket, throw it in a secluded area in your compound and cover with soil, turn your pile once or twice a week and now and then water your pile to increase the rate of decomposition.  When the portions of the pile completely decompose you will have a rich compost to apply to any and all of your horticulture, except plants that prefer poor soils.

Recycle

We also need to strengthen and expand our recycling efforts from aluminum, steal and glass to newspapers and ink cartridges.  What happens to all those metal cans and metal tops from milk, sodas, juices and alcoholic beverages?  If recycling of paper is not economically and/or environmentally feasible, then a program of composting paper should be studied, however, potential impacts on the environment by artificial colors and chemicals that may be present from paper bleaching processes need to be investigated.

To reduce potential contamination from artificial ink and chemicals in paper from bleaching, we should encourage the use of unbleached paper and vegetable dyes across Gambian society.

Ink cartridge companies have recycling programs.  Businesses that use cartridges should commit to sending their used cartridges back to these companies for recycling.

Clearly mass education and government policy on waste is direly needed.