Talking Trash

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There’s good news to start the new year – Nosara’s trash is beginning to disappear!

After years of conversations, proposals, and projects to solve our solid waste problem, on January 7 the first 12 tons of trash left the Nosara dump. Local businesses are paying the cost of hauling it away, and the Municipality of Nicoya is paying for the final disposition. The Nosara Recycles Association (Asociación de Desechos y Reciclaje de Nosara) is looking for more sponsors to share the cost. Businesses, please contribute!

Getting our trash out of town

Even with the trucks loading up regularly, it will take a year before the landfill ground is cleared. Meanwhile, you can do your part to keep the landfill’s trash to a minimum.

Currently, most solid waste arrives at the dump without having been properly separated, which means that many recyclables are mixed in with the trash. Two workers open trash bags all day long, extracting the recyclables they find. If everyone made a few simple changes in their household or business, we could reduce the trash going to the landfill by almost 80 percent.

Here’s how: separate your trash into three piles.

  • Organic matter, such as food waste — dispose of it by composting or burying it. This simple step will reduce the volume of trash by nearly half.
  • Recyclables — glass, plastic, aluminum, tin cans, cardboard and paper. Place these in a clear plastic bag and put them out in time for trash collection. This step will reduce the volume of trash by another 30 percent.
  • What’s left – true trash. Put non-organic, non-recyclable stuff in a trash bag at the curb and send it on its way.

In addition, reduce the amount of plastic you buy to help Nosara and Mother Earth. Take your own bag with you whenever you go shopping, and choose glass and metal containers over plastic when you have the choice. Re-use plastic whenever possible. Look for trash containers by the Recycling Center made from discarded plastic bottles. There are now 5 of them distributed around Nosara.

Have you seen me? I’m a public trash can made of bottles

And please make sure you pay your garbage fees – a bargain at $15 a month per household. For more information, contact Lili Adams at liliadams@mac.com

The Nosara Recycles Association was formed in 2008 in response to the degradation of our immediate environment and natural resources. Its mission is to educate, promote, and advance environmentally and economically sound waste management practices in Nosara and the surrounding communities. Thanks to Jessica Sheffield, Nice Alterman, Kuki Araya, Alvaro Camacho, Christoph Hubmann, Bobbi Johnson, Marcel Schaerer, and the other members of the association team for their efforts in finding a solution.

For more information: www.nosararecycles.com (including a list of what can and can’t be recycled on the Recycling Guide tab) and facebook.com/NosaraRecicla/.

Orlando and Lorena sorting recyclables from trash

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