禁漫天堂

If you are in Punta Cana:

We are in very early stages of recycling here in the country.聽

The north coast has little in terms of services

Recycling is in the early stages on the island. I was alarmed to see 2 litre plastic bottles, glass beer bottles, etc. going straight into the landfill. Casa de Campo has begun a recycling program for plastic, glass and tin over the past year but I know it is difficult to find companies to process these materials.

Thanks
I'm in Perla Marina聽 a little far from Punta Cana.

Thanks for replies.

The thought of聽 so much potentially recyclable material going to landfill just seems a waste on so many levels.

Hmm Maybe find a way to incentivise. Perhaps find a local scrap dealer, and the community members just sort their tins separately for a once monthly collection...

Of course I have no idea the Spanish for scrap merchant!

Also just realised how important it is to have an understanding of the language before moving and wanting to change things!

There are already many recycling plants here on the island.聽 The area west of Santo Domingo near San Cristobal has quite a few plants.
I see large trucks every day full of plastic bottles and other plastic items along with scrap metal
Rest assured what gets sent to landfills is being collected by the hundreds of "buzos" who spend every day collecting the different items for recycling.
The only thing I don't see being recycled is styrofoam and I agree there is much more to be done.

Yes, lack of recycling drives us ex-pats crazy! When we set up our household in LT we are focusing on re-usable as much as possible (e.g. glass and reusable containers). We will start composting as well; something we haven't done seriously before.聽 We have noticed recycling bins on Playa Bonita beach; however, we've been told where the stuff ends up is anyone's guess.

It is already big business.

Even the "Buzos" (collectors) themselves admit to making as much as 30K pesos a month.

OK
That's quite reassuring that it gets sorted down the line...

In case you don't follow DominicanToday...:

So you understand the process everything we throw out that makes it to the landfill is literally gone through by people who make their living doing so.

It is filthy stinky work in the elements all day long.聽 They are.mostly illegals with few.options to sustain themselves.and their families.

This is good to know.聽 So, even if there is no formal collection point for cans and such we should expect the trash is being sorted by someone. And that someone can make money to live on.

It's not being sorted as.such,.no. They scavenge anything of value they can!聽 The rest is landfill.

Anytime you are near puerto Plata go check the.landfill and you will see how horrendous it is!

The informal recycling聽 starts with the guys who rummage through your garbage looking for all manner of plastics and more. there is one guy who tours our neighbourhood with a 3 wheeled bike which gets laden with what he finds and what he sells on.

All manner of metals is collected by the mudanzas driving around neighbourhoods with speakers seeking metallic waste for purchase and a frequent sight is mattresses where the springs are collected and recycled. In Santo Domingo near Av. Duarte there is a large zone where recycled goods are traded.

Beer bottles have value (i pesos) and get collected and sold back tot the brewery.

Any aluminium cans are indeed collected and sold on.

DR now has a vibrant steel manufacturing industry and certified construction reinforcing bars are now produced and exported from waste collected here.

I was on a hotel refurbishment projects a couple of years back and believe me everything we stripped out had a value and a buyer. All that metal is collected even tie wire. the old bathroom suites got sold on too. And wood is precious and reused. Take a look at the maestros constructing the houses all over DR. The ply and the framing has been used a hundred times.

Paper packaging is collected from big sales outlets and is shipped overseas to USA for reuse. Perhaps too much paper is not recycled early enough but at least it degrades in landfill.

Plastics are the biggest problem but the aim is to recycle more than two thirds in short term. lets hope they follow the lead of other Caribbean nations and ban its use or better still use sugar industry waste to make degradable products. Still too early for DR to adapt but there are business people involved working to find cost effective solutions. plastic is recycled here as mentioned in an earlier post and many of the plastic products made here are from recycled plastics - even the plastic used to wrap bananas as they develop.

And then we have the hordes who scour the landfill sites and make a living recycling what has been missed.

And for all of us with a conscience, remember that the waste you religiously recycled in your home country does not always get treated as you would like to think by your waste management companies. You thought you had done your bit for the environment - but wait - your waste management company found it more economically viable to ship all that plastic to a third world country with poor waste management.

Yes the USA shipped 68,000 containers of plastic waste to other countries last year and only recycled 9% of it's plastic waste in 2015. Perhaps DR is doing better than that with it's informal approach?

[link under review]

Figure out how to recycle styrofoam and the world will be your oyster.

The solution lies here in the Caribbean. Styrofoam using sugar waste and it is used in the UK with sugar waste imported from the Caribbean.

There are several options available apparently!

@Theotherjenny did you get an answer regarding the recycling of aluminum cans? I would be very interested to recycle but here in Monte Plata is just a mountain of trash...ki d regards Nicole

@Guest2022

I purchased old over 60聽 3鈥澛� 4x8 sheets from an ice skating rink floor being torn out for 3.00 each.

Put it between the wood floor and ceiling joists鈥� and between the wall studs .. in the dealings i put it up and wrapped it with radiant barrier

it could be shredded and sold for insulation.聽 What better than and Ice Cooler to keep your place 鈥渃ool鈥�?