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Week 10 Day 3 - "Asociación de Mujeres Ambientalistas 4R*"
It is quite impressive what these women have put into place. They know each other for being neighbours next to the garbage dump in a little town. The two ladies in the picture, Marlen & Elisabeth, have explained to us how their idea was born because they saw the amount of rubbish at the garbage dump growing day after day.
They started out by distributing letters to schools and companies, promising to pick up their garbage every week, should they commit to separating glas from plastic and paper. Initially, they encountered a lot of scepticism. Some 'threatened' to only test this and stop immediately should they fail to pick up even one single time. Marlen & Elisabeth were very proud to report that in all those years they have not once failed to keep their promise.
About 10 women are activitely involved in the initiative and put in many hours of hard work. At the beginning, they once ran out of money for gas to transport materials to a recycling facility near San José. Now they make enough money to pay for the rent of the grounds they need for their recycling operation. The income of the women varies, but is always very modest.
That day, we thanked the women for taking the time to explain their operation to us by helping to sort some of the materials. We were rewarded with a freshly picked coconut 'cocktail' directly from their tree.
* 4R stands for...
Rechazar ('reject'): "no compremos productos que dañan el ambiente (aerosoles, empaques no reciclables, etc.), y tampoco aquellos productos que hayan sido ensayados en animales. Rechacemos también productos sobre envasados, muchas veces estos envoltorios sólo tienen una función decorativa."
Reducir ('reduce'): "compremos sólo lo necesario. Llevemos nuestras propias bolsas al supermercado, evitemos al máximo los envoltorios; reduzcamos el consumo de bienes materiales. Quizás no podamos dejar de producir residuos, pero sí podemos disminuir su cantidad."
Reutilizar ('reuse'): "saquemos el máximo de provecho a las cosas que tenemos, muchas de estas cosas pueden servir para algo distinto a su función original, por ejemplo tarros y frascos de comestibles nos pueden servir como recipientes para guardar otros productos, y cuando la ropa nos quede chica o ya no nos interese seguir usándola, vendámoslo o regalémoslo... siempre habrá alguien a quien le pueda servir."
Recuperar para reciclar ('recover to recycle'): "enviemos a centros de acopio todos los materiales susceptibles de reciclar como papel, cartón, latas de aluminio, vidrio, algunos plásticos y hagamos abono orgánico con los restos vegetales y de comida que producimos."
(source)
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For today's sponsors
Herzliche Glückwünsche e auguroni, Christel! Spero che Giovanni, Andreas und Nike ti hanno preparato belle sorprese per il tuo compleanno.
Queste donne sono impresionanti! Si conoscono perché sono Nachbarn in einem Dorf neben der Müllhalde. Marlen e Elisabeth (le donne nella foto) ci hanno spiegato com'è nata la idea perchè volevano ridurre le immondizie che vedevono crescere tutti i giorni.
Anfangs haben sie ein Schreiben aufgesetzt und sind damit in Schulen und Betriebe gegangen. Sie boten an, wöchentlich den Müll abzuholen, unter der Voraussetzung, daß Plastik, Papier und Glas getrennt würde. Zunächst stiessen sie auf viel Skepsis und einige "drohten", dies nur auszuprobieren, aber sofort damit aufzuhören, wenn die Frauen nicht pünktlich kämen, um den Müll abzuholen. Stolz erzählten Marlen und Elisabeth che in tutti questi anni non sono mancate neanche una volta alla loro promessa.