Comment
Carlos Micilio
Sandra Schopf
Dealing with environmental issues requires reflection and honesty. Carlos Micilio and Sandra Schopf explore social problems in waste management from a Latin American perspective, without losing sight of a global relevance.
The problems associated with sustainable waste management are, like many other environmental concerns, horizontal in nature. They pervade all social strata and structures, from government administrations to health and educational institutions, trade and industry, tourism, senior citizens, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), our neighbourhoods, and more. We are all responsible and we cannot expect that certain groups of society should be exempt from this task.
In Argentina, government administrations have tended to appoint environmental officers on the basis of their political affiliation rather than their experience of environmental issues. In this way, political activists without the necessary competence were given preference over experienced professionals because the latter didn’t share the ideology of the incumbent political leadership.
In respective administrations, the extent of cases of environmental damage badly requiring remediation was being played down and belittled, or alternatively promises of remediation and repair were made but were hardly ever fulfilled during the individual politicians’ terms of office. Taking two examples from the waste sector:
- Most wastes are still handled and deposited in open dump grounds bursting at the seams because large groups of the population (as well as political and industrial stakeholders) fiercely oppose the construction of new sanitary landfills. Nearly 200 uncontrolled dump grounds have been identified over the past years and are still in operation
- There is a group of informal recyclers, so-called ‘scavengers’, who sort out waste materials in the streets. One can truly say that these people (ab)use the public space as a ‘waste separation facility’. While accepting that these people need their activity to make a living, it is also important to realize that many of them carry out this job as a result of suffering from the great economic recession in the country. They should have the possibility to go back to their previous jobs or receive some kind of governmental support (such as vocational training) which would enable them to improve their quality of living. But politicians tend to find ‘scavenging’ quite convenient as this relieves them of an unwanted burden – scavengers do the job of sorting waste, meaning that the government is not forced to make and pay for formal arrangements.
If they don’t do anything, why should we?
In the industry sector, all of this was generously backed by certain companies clever enough to take advantage of the inactivity displayed by the authorities. When being told to introduce sanitary and environmental standards, they would argue as follows: standardization is costly, and if we adopt such standards we will have to downsize our staff and many people will risk losing their jobs. Large companies usually also function as ‘sponsors’, financing part of the cost of the political canvassing process, which gives them enormous power over political stakeholders. The public, on the other hand, used this behaviour to defend its own lack of compromise and interest in the issue, saying: if they don’t do anything about it, why should we...?
The outlook is not very encouraging and it is indeed impossible not to indulge in polemics over this issue. After all, passing on responsibility to others is much easier than assuming responsibility for one’s own actions – and this is a serious problem quite difficult to resolve nationally and globally. Argentina is only one example of many – if we look around we may find consolation in the fact that we are in good company.
Turning the ship around
One of the greater problems in this respect is social behaviour. Our society is suffering from a lack of commitment, which has its roots in the individual household – the daily routine, the lack of discipline instilled in the kids, and personal behaviour. Constantly justifying one’s actions, taking other people’s bad habits as an excuse for one’s own misbehaviour, discussing misdemeanours in others to deflect attention from one’s own – all these behavioural patterns take on the air of a true pandemic of bad manners rather than civilized action.
A change of habits must start in the ‘micro-world’, in our own little family; then, in a wider context, we can draw support from education and information programmes and awareness-raising campaigns, which are also aimed at nourishing the relationship between authorities and citizens. And if need be, these programmes can also be complemented by appropriate laws.
Also, it is important to note that raising awareness among people and empowering an entire society (through formal and informal education) not only happens through the transfer of specialized knowledge. Much more, it is important to make people understand that our actions are a part of our culture, that our education is reflected in our daily activities, and that increased awareness also improves our quality as individuals, as a society, and as a nation. To reiterate, we have to accept that responsibility not only lies with the State – many activities simply depend on each of us.
People often demand that the public sector or trade and industry come up with solutions, but they also need to know and understand that they themselves are part of the problem; and so finding a solution depends on them as well. Taking responsibility is one step towards a solution. The question is: who will take the first step?
Any suggestions...?
We could impose environmental penalties on those in charge: for example, if an employee commits an environmental offence, his boss shall be penalized. Penalties could ideally be ‘community services’ (caring for the sick, mowing public lawns, helping with garbage collection, and the like), and be imposed independent of any financial compensation for the damage caused. In other words: the ‘real’ culprits (such as a parent who ignores his/her duty of education and care for a child under age, or a company executive who ‘fails to know’ what’s going on among his employees) should be held responsible.
This ‘repair concept’ must be the starting point; only then will people perceive the equal nature of the messages, the compromise of those involved, the sanctions imposed on offenders, the examples provided by executors, the importance of assuming responsibility, and last but not least the goodness that comes from their actions.
In conclusion, we should not deceive ourselves believing that once a remediation process automatically leads to controlled sanitary conditions, this is a logical consequence even in a society whose members ignore their role in the solution-finding process. Without education, without awareness-raising, without solidarity, without respect for our neighbours, we will not be able to optimize our results – any society that fails to pay attention to these criteria will only achieve temporary results and risk falling back into old, abandoned habits.
Unless we change our behavioural patterns and stop contaminating our environment at the cost of communal health and social welfare, sooner or later we will find ourselves in a situation where, from a legal perspective, our acts must be classified as ‘criminal offences’. This conclusion is echoed in European legislation, whereby in February last year the European Commission proposed a directive that obliges Member States to treat serious offences against the environment as criminal acts and to ensure that they are effectively sanctioned.
In Argentina, and elsewhere in the world, there will always be players furnished with enough power and competence to make an impact. In confronting this challenge, we should become role models to those around us via our behaviour, we should seek to educate others – children, partners, friends, colleagues, peers – and motivate them to follow our example. We ourselves should take the initiative and not wait for the others to make a start. And our behaviour shall multiply in others.
Carlos Eduardo Micilio is Director of the Urban Environmental Consultancy Carlos Micilio & Associated, Argentina and Member of ISWA’s Communication and Social Issues Working Group
e-mail: consultoracarlosmicilio@gmail.com
Sandra Schopf is a freelance translator and journalist for environmental issues and has worked with several waste management institutions in Austria. She was Chair of ISWA’s Communication and Social Issues Working Group from 1997 until 2003.
e-mail: sandra.schopf@asak.at
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