Astrid Garnica

How long will the inhabitants of the Porvenir neighborhood have to endure this situation?

Bucaramanga is also called City of parks or beautiful city. However, there is an environmental problem with a great dilemma, where El Carrasco landfill must be closed definitively since it is affecting the population that is located in the vicinity to it, which who must deal daily with bad odors, proliferation of flies and other animals typical of a garbage deposit, pollution of water sources and the devaluation of their properties but despite of this, it is important to clarify that the damage would be more serious if it closes, since it has not yet been found another suitable land to deposit the garbage, which would generate a greater emergency. All this sets out, a question: how long will the inhabitants of the Porvenir neighborhood have to endure this situation?

To address this issue more precisely, it is necessary to make known the location of this landfill, which is located in the southwestern part of the city of Bucaramanga in a natural glen, limiting with the Porvenir neighborhood to the west. This landfill began to operate since 1978 as an open-air dump and over time due to the new environmental standards has gradually been adapted, but its useful life is running out because it receives about 1000 tons of daily trash, which come from 17 municipalities. However, it should be noted that more than six years ago the El Carrasco landfill had to be closed by an order of the Santander Administrative Court, where it ruled in favor of the neighborhood, as this community is being affected by the odors that El Carrasco emits and the animals that it attracts.

Image taken from Vanguardia

Taking into account the above, I think it is important to mention that from that date until now, the Mayors have promised to solve this problem but they have only postponed the closure declaring themselves in sanitary emergency repeatedly, since it has not been possible find another land to receive the garbage, although solutions had been proposed as to take the solid waste to Cúcuta, but the most probable thing was that in that journey the contamination to other sectors was increased, therefore the same community has rejected it. Such is the magnitude of the problem that it is the fifth time that a sanitary emergency is declared, postponing the closure until 2020. From my point of view, in this case the minority is ignored and they must continue to wait, making reference to the community Porvenir.

Now, I think that it is unacceptable as time goes by and this issue is ignored by only postponing the final closure of the filling, without taking into account the community that is affecting and the discomforts that now, they must endure for three more years, where their homes will continue to be devalued and those smells can cause health problems.

Similarly, according to me, some of the solutions for this problem would be to involve the new technology to process garbage and stop burying it, because thus in the long term can affect water sources with leachates, another would raise awareness and habits in each one of the inhabitants so that we recycle and think before scramble all the garbage. For instance, in countries such as Japan, strategies such as the zero waste project are developed, where everyone classifies and makes the most of their waste.

Finally, in my opinion, as this problem only directly affects some communities near to El Carrasco, that is why the government turns a deaf ear to their requests and ignores the damage that they are causing day to day with odor issues stemming from the landfill, the mayors do not feel committed to give an immediate and definitive solution to this problem. Likewise, time goes by and this problem is growing, damaging the image of this beautiful city.

Feedback

By Fabiola Suarez

Astrid, I read your essay, it’s another common problem in Colombia, landfills are all over the country and many of these places are inadequate. I think because the lack of urbanistic planning of the city or because the government thinks only in what is better for them and less expensive. If you ask me, recycling programs in Colombia have a poor manage and these programs are not bringing enough wellness to the communities. It is because the government is allowing to private enterprises handle the recycling waste, instead of the local governments in each town or city has a plant for handle this waste, create more employments locally and recycle all paper, paperboard, plastic and glass.

In my view, it is important too that we use less disposables containers especially of Styrofoam, because this material is considered not recyclable until now. Other great waste that is not recyclable are diapers, feminine hygiene products and waste from clinics and hospitals. The two first wastes can be reduced using alternative reusable products as cloth diapers and the Mooncup, but there are a lot of other solutions in both cases. I understand that it’s not easy go green, but if we all don’t shape an environmental awareness starting by ourselves this situation never is going to change.

By Liliana Calambaz

All things considered in your essay are common in Colombia, personally, I think that there is no citizen culture in front final disposal of waste. Therefore causing not only cluttered streets and bad odors, but also health and environmental impacts which contribute to global warming and pollute lakes, forests, oceans and cities from where they originated.  One negative impact is the water pollution because garbage liquid that end up in water change the chemical composition of the water. This problem affects not only human health, but ecosystems existing in the water and therefore the species that live there like fish and other animals that drink from the polluted water.

By Luis Serrano

Astrid I just have read your essay, you have described in a practical and easy way your environmental problem, your arguments attempt to persuade the reader to adopt a certain point of view, for example your topic sentence in this occasion as a question is a good position to defend your arguments, is a nice way to persuade the reader, also I consider that the paragraphs are logically and coherently connected, since you have used statistics information to defend your position, your arguments.
On the other hands I would like to mention that as you have described in the essay the solution is extremely necessary, “Some of the solutions for this problem would be to involve the new technology to process garbage and stop burying it, because thus in the long term can affect water sources with leachates,” the solution of this problem could be invest in new technology that allow to transform tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish into new eco-friendly fuel, as in Norway where they burns rubbish to get energy and avoids resorting to landfill.

By Paola Mora

I read your document, and the contamination with garbage is a very common problem in our country, because there is not a recycling culture or a waste separation culture. The proliferation of mosquitoes, flies, parasites, respiratory diseases, pollutant gasses emission, and the diseases transmitted or provoked by mosquitoes are the main problems caused by the bad manipulation of garbage. Moreover, the leachate, which are the liquids that drains from a landfill site; can contaminate groundwater, rendering it unfit for human consumption.

So, it's important change our culture and work for the environment.

Audio Link

AUDIO BY ASTRID GARNICA

References

Relleno sanitario (Landfill). El Carrasco, Bucaramanga, Colombia. (s.f.). Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved November 15, 2017 from: https://ejatlas.org/print/relleno-sanitario-landfill-el-carrasco-bucaramanga-colombia

Niño Carvajal, Lissette Ximena, Ramón Valencia, Jacipt Alexander, & Ramón Valencia, Jairo Lenin. (2016). Contaminación fisicoquímica de acuíferos por los lixiviados generados del relleno sanitario El Carrasco, de Bucaramanga. Producción + Limpia, 11(1), 66-74. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1909-04552016000100007&lng=en&tlng=es.

Palazón, M., & Aleson, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/7893/1/connectors.pdf

The Present Perfect Passive of English Verbs. (2013, May 19). Retrieved from: http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/the-present-perfect-passive-of-english-verbs/

Purpose, reason and Results Clauses. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/2004/u2/purposereasonresultclauses.htm

Arias, J. & Pineda, J. L. (27 September 2017). Nueva emergencia sanitaria: El Carrasco operará 36 meses más. Vanguardia Liberal. Retrieved from: http://www.vanguardia.com/area-metropolitana/bucaramanga/410807-nueva-emergencia-sanitaria-el-carrasco-operara-36-meses-mas