The never ending trash in Havana
HAVANA, Oct. 9th. The collection of solid waste occupies and worries those who generate it and, of course, those who must or have the obligation to collect it. Everyone knows that this accumulation favors the spread of vectors – with the consequent risk of disease transmission, not only flies, cockroaches, and rodents, which find a “paradise” on any corner; Not to mention the bad smell and on many occasions, it interrupts vehicular traffic or the passage of neighbors.
It is time to look for a solution to a problem that has become a cyclical issue on the citizen agenda and, especially because the volume of waste that we can observe in municipalities with large agglomerations of people is not much greater; Because it is not the same to live in a neighborhood – where the homes are separated by large spaces – or others like Centro Habana, Old Havana, Vedado and even in Alamar, Eastern Havana, wherein one block there can be more than hundred nuclei and only those of us who live in places like this know the true value (without being absolute) of hygiene.
In the specific case of that eastern district, the collection car takes away the garbage from the containers but they cannot remove what is dumped as a result of cleaning gardens or crops, construction waste or other waste that neighbors throw away without any consideration and , even if the container is empty, it remains in its surroundings for days and days, until it can be removed by a mechanical shovel: a piece of equipment that leads to greater fuel consumption and involves trucks, of course, to transport the debris.
We face a real situation with the lack of parts and other resources for the mobility of this equipment involved in the removal of garbage and bulky waste; Although companies and organizations that support are called, we do not have a main resource: What do each of us citizens do to contribute to maintaining community hygiene?
I do not mean, of course, that we should take care of the collection.
Will the new economic managers be able to think about collecting garbage? Will it be possible to make a business out of garbage? Isn’t it useful for producing compost for crop fields?
Will it be possible to pay those who collect it with the one percent that is assigned to the municipalities?
What is true is that you cannot depend on donations for something as important as the collection of solid waste because the health of many goes there; not to mention everyone.
