Trash

Out of sight, out of mind...

A city run by trash. A city overrun by trash. That's the difference between Kristianstad and Port-au-Prince. The city of Kristianstad was recently profiled in the New York Times for its comprehensive approach to trash management, particularly for using its waste supply to produce biogas, used to fuel cars and warm homes. This centralized system was made possible by significant investment- $144 million- and high levels of political will and coordination. It all seems like quite a pipe dream from here in Port-au-Prince, where there is not even municipal or private trash service for the wealthy.


The picture above shows where our trash goes... over the wall into a neighboring vacant lot, happily populated by goats and roosters. And believe me, this is an improvement from when it used to just land in the back yard. Our house staff also burns some trash in an oil drum, but how they choose what they burn and what they toss is beyond my grasp. I'll update this post when I learn more. Trash burning produces white smoke and probably plenty of dioxins. It's the de-facto method of waste management here. Trash was also the fuel of election protests this past week, lighting up the street corners of Petionville and used to blockade the roads.

You may also have seen photographs in the news of people wading in rivers of it. When I first arrived here, I was shocked every time we passed a vantage point into a vast ravine: full of trash, dead automobiles, and people! So many people living in close quarters to things they used last week or last month. An extremely foreign concept to someone from the United States, where trash is "taken care of."

Of course, the United States doesn't effectively deal with its trash either. It just buries it, dumps it, and tries to make it less visible. Recycling is for middle-class moms and homeless people with shopping carts. Composting is for hippies. Non-consumption is for anarchists. We have the luxury of not thinking about our trash because we have functioning municipal governments, taxes to fund those municipal services, and sufficient land to dump it on.

India has a more realistic model for Haiti. In fact, back in 2008, India was helping Haiti in developing a community-based waste management system in Carrefour. Residents were paid to collect trash, to sort it, and then to recycle the paper waste stream into fuel briquettes, which were then sold at market. I would be interested to know what has become of this program and its plans for expansion. PRI aired an update back in May stating that the program was not yet self-sufficient and is currently being funded by the UN.

The slums of India, particularly Mumbai, are known for the million or so 'rag-pickers' that pick through tons of trash to sell anything of value. Groups like Conserve India are now working with this essential population to add more value to their work by upcycling products. You can buy a Haiti bracelet or two along the same line of thought, though I sincerely doubt they are making much of a dent in the vast amount strewn around this country. 

Slightly reminiscent of Kristianstad, Vivo Rio, a Brazilian organization, is installing public toilets in Port-au-Prince that will harness the power of human poop to produce electricity. Personally, I think it's a better use for that type of waste than the term thrown around in our house, "humanure." Maybe we can take baby steps and first create a trench in our yard to compost our biodegradable waste. We certainly have enough hippies in the house to make it happen.

Beyond the piecemeal solutions, well, we need a functioning government with a clear message. Until then, Haiti's trash will continue to generate only more lively descriptive fodder for journalists setting the scene.