What a Waste

A quiet Saturday afternoon. A brisk walk on the beach of Ngor (Dakar) ends where the sand turns into rocks, and the sea comes crashing in. It’s not this impressive spectacle that takes my breath away, though. Rather than staring out into ocean, my gaze is grasped by the heaps and heaps of trash on and underneath the rock formations. It takes me a while to realise just how much trash has been thrown into the sea on this patch alone, and as I turn back, a woman with a trash can passes me. She empties the trash can by throwing its content in a seemingly random direction – there’s trash anywhere, so no need to aim. She sees me looking at her, and when she returns she stops and says: “C’est sale ici.” It’s dirty here. Stating the obvious 2.0.

Garbage has been an ever present problem in the majority of the emerging countries. One needs to try their hardest to actually find a patch of grass/sand without encountering a number of old ripped plastic bags that have travelled who knows how many kilometres with the wind. Also outside of the cities the main connecting roads are accompanied by a trail of trash, as if Hansel ran out of bread crumbs and decided to use pieces of plastic bags instead.

Now what is being done to curb the problem? Not very much, unfortunately, in spite of the best efforts of a small number of NGOs. An issue with garbage collection is that it is very difficult to create a value after garbage has been processed. Processes where for example one can easily recycle plastics to be sold and reused are not readily available yet, and definitely not in countries like Senegal.

In the short run, I don’t see any way around a system of garbage collection which is organised by some form of government, be it on a national, regional or even communal level. It needs to be organised, and people need to be forced to contribute in the form of taxes, as this process does not generate much economic value, and there is a huge free-rider incentive with a centralised service.

In my own little neighbourhood, a couple of entrepreneurs on a donkey-cart come by every other day or so to collect the trash, for a monthly fee. I’m obviously not forced to contribute, because non-payment would result in exclusion. For many households, exclusion is not that big a problem, as there are other ways to get rid of your trash (see opening paragraph…). While I appreciate the fact that someone is earning some money by solving my garbage problem, the problem in itself is not being solved as without any single doubt the donkey-cart will ride straight towards one of the many garbage dumping facilities, very much like the rocks I stumbled upon on a given Saturday.

However - ending on a bright note - I recently heard news about the existence of a battery recycling company. Is the tide turning?

L.