Planet Earth And The Problem With Its Recycle Bin.

But this story takes place in Gurabo…

In our constant battle with the systems, our constant goals and efforts to fulfill our responsibilities as citizens, sometimes they are achievable smoothly and at others the paths are paved with obstacles and roughness which are contradictory and difficult to untangle.

This story takes place in Gurabo. The municipality where I live, my family town of residence for the past thirty years and the town that we love. It is the place where by our decision, based on its beauty, proximity to our more than one hundred relatives members of the extended family (religious and politically active members and leaders in their respective organizations), and also proximity to our work and schools, was chosen as our place to serve, live and raise our family. Hundreds of relatives also live there, as well as uncountable others who once were and who still are my patients along with others who come from all over the island.

After this introduction, allow me to explain. Based on two sayings that I have ingrained since my young adult stage, the first- “Everything is impossible until it is not” and the other “issues not taken care of, leads to disaster”- the first one I used to think that was of my harvest, but later on I clearly understood that must of the sayings and proverbs (the oldest found in the clay tablets of the Etruscan scribes) are emergent, they arise spontaneously from crisis and necessity, thus being universal. I also want to clarify that although this article points out some specific problems, and it may seem like a mere complaint , it is not, since it is easy to understand the complexity of establishing and keeping functioning a reclining system structure, hence mainly my priority as it has been during my whole life, is an educational and preventive one in nature. Many people maybe are familiar with my 17 years on the radio,with the public service talk show “Ya No Estas Sólo”, on prevention and self help topics. So addressing the crucially important topic of recycling falls within the same realm.

Recycling is not an imposed act, nor should it be lucrative, nobody should pay us for it, it should be a shared responsibility between the consumer and all the industries producing and selling the entangled duality of packeted-product.

Now ask and answer yourself this question. Why do consumers citizens in addition of having to pay for the products, the sometimes exorbitant prices, are also manipulated to pay, trough the taxes paid to governments, since from the taxes obtained from citizens work, privatized corporations are also paid to pickup as an additional cost for the collection and reuse of packaging materials? Analyze well, using your critical thinking, and draw your own conclusions (not because of beliefs or ideologies).

After that, comes the second part of this situation. Why do citizens, who with love and conviction wants to contribute keeping our planet healthy by “recycling”, have to be subjected to unnecessary, known bodily inflammatory anxiety and pressure, certainly knowing that the established recycling pickup system is inefficient, a mere mimicry, where only a small amount of the total recyclable products is collected? If this is not taken care of immediately, I remind you the saying- “ Unattended business,leads to disasters”.

Then, why do I speak of pressure and anguish? Simply because as at this moment in our urbanizations there are no safety places to allocate or put, those trash can for recycling and nor a clear procedure that does not violate other municipal, or state regulations, or designed or constructed areas free from danger, where residents could safely allocate deposits their containers full of recycling products. So that they can go to bed calm, knowing that at some point it will be picked up.

Worse than that, in addition to all of the above, it is very subtlety insinuated almost as if were an obligation, that we should watch the truck that passes at a more than desirable speed, suddenly, late at night, waking up those who rest from their hard work of the day, putting citizens in the dangerous situations of having to run to comply. I feel compelled to mention this case of a 65 years old patient who have come to my office with treated fractures, contusions, consequences of falling in the dark treated at her local emergency room, after running in the middle of the night because she heard the reclining company truck.

Well, now allow me to show the topographic evidence, here are some pictures depicting not all,but some of the topographic disclinations, dislocations and defects, that makes everything complicated, uneven surfaces, urban construction deficits, without specific design areas, for garbage allocation, and which should be constructed expedited.

This pictures are a minuscule example of what is stated in this article. They exemplified the instructed locations given to us by the municipal office personnel, as a general rule , and the immediate topographic, or by construction déficit, impossibility of complying. This pictures are from containers placed on a real street. The 3 locations interfere or dangerously obstruct, free traffic or pedestrians circulation, and are the only possible locations , number one, is the one requested as the preferred one by the municipal office of Gurabo. I have to add that this has been the pattern trough all Puerto Rico, for decades.

Pictures 1, 2 and 3.

Clarifying that this problem has been present for decades in Puerto Rico, and no apparent satisfactory solution has been achieved. Our planet is dying and we will all go with it, as a country, as citizens we all have our part to do, but is not just citizens fault, metiendo la cabeza en el agujero,como el avestruz, la nave se ira a pique.