Ryan-Michael Jesus
For Triton’s Call
Guam generates almost 8,000 tons of waste per month, according to the EPA. With this much trash, the island’s landfill will have collected an average of 96,000 tons of solid waste per year.
The island’s waste problem was highlighted by Governor Eddie Baza Calvo in his 2014 State of the Island address, Green Guam: Today & Tomorrow. Calvo stated,
“Guam EPA received 224 citizen complaints about solid waste pollution in the past two years alone.”
With limited available space for a landfill, and the environmental concerns, the recycling movement on Guam has gained traction over the past few years. Organizations such as the Guam EPA, i*recycle, the Guam Coastal Cleanup, and many other supporters have pushed forward the recycling movement.
However, despite concerted efforts proponents to make the public aware of the importance of recycling, some residents on Guam still do not recycle.
Indeed, with all the outreach the organizations do as well as the resources made available to Guam’s residents, such as recycling bins and trash pickup in the residential areas, why is it that waste has continued to build up on the island?
Peggy Denney, the administrator for i*recycle, which is an aluminum recycling program created for the benefit of Guam’s schools by the Guam Business Partners for Recycling, Inc., had mentioned
“I think the lack of education and awareness continues to be the major challenge when it comes to recycling on Guam. Although we are making great progress, there is still much confusion when it comes to plastics and which ones can be recycled on Guam.”
Additionally, much more education will be needed in order to help residents truly understand the importance of composting and biodegradables (and composting those biodegradables) instead of non- recyclable plastics like Styrofoam.
Guam generates huge quantities of plastics, and much of it is recyclable (plastics #1 and #2). Although recycling of those plastics is increasing, a tremendous amount is still disposed of in the landfill. The other types of plastic that we generally cannot recycle on Guam, plastics #3 through #7, obviously end up in the landfill, but I think we could reduce that volume significantly if we changed our habits regarding purchasing and reuse.
It is quite evident that Guam does need to be enlightened about recycling and its benefits to the island, it is still a matter of actually doing it. So what is it that would motivate the island to take on a more involved role?
Phillip R. Cruz, associate project coordinator of the Center for Island Sustainability (CIS), stated that, “These days people need motivation and incentives, and the incentive usually is money. Ideally, people should want to recycle and not have to be paid for it.”
Cruz’s organization, CIS, was founded by UOG President Robert Underwood, and developed for the purpose of serving as a model of sustainability, dedicated to the research and outreach of environmental issues that affect Guam and the Pacific region.
In order to motivate people to recycle, first of all, it needs to be extremely convenient.
“People want it to be effortless, so having the curbside pickup of their garbage at their homes is a very helpful first step.” said Cruz.
There are still ways to go as far as getting the community involved and changing that mindset that recycling is more of a “bother.”
“Maybe it’s a bit much to get people excited about recycling,” mentioned Denney. “Then there are the challenges that people may face, especially those who live in the south and are unwilling to take that drive up north to Harmon or any place just to recycle.”
