Talkin’ Trash

March 7, 2009

One of the first things to strike any visitor to Dakar will be the amount of garbage everywhere. People throw garbage unapologetically on the ground, in the street, in the sand, in the water; it is everywhere and anywhere. The two major types of ‘waste removal’ systems that exist here seem to be either burning refuse or sending it out to sea. One gorgeous road along the ocean has a ditch leading off of it; the ditch is chock full of old chlorine bottles, dishwashing liquid bottles and assorted other plastics of all kinds. When the tide comes in, it quietly and unostentatiously makes all the trash disappear. As is the case throughout most of the very populous Third World, the locals do not tend to think much about trash, as they have more pressing concerns, but holidaymakers understandably find it unappetizing to repose on a beach full of refuse or do the breast stroke in water that is full of plastic bags or juice cartons.Thankfully, however, there are idealists out there who instead of booking the next flight out to a more pristine kind of place are trying both to sensitize and empower the locals, and with great success. The concept behind the Solid Waste Management Project is deceptively simple: what happens when you first provide people in a community with waste containers, educate them on the advantages of recycling and composting versus the disadvantages of polluting, and then show them how the resulting organic fertilizer can even yield a small profit? It sounds too good to be true, but the phenomenal thing is that the Joal recycling project, which began as a six month pilot project, will soon have spread to six of 27 neighborhoods in the region.

The award-winning NGO Tostan, brainchild of Molly Melching, initially financed the pilot project (this story, too, is worth telling: on a flight between NY and CA, Molly Melching gave up the comfort of business class to sit in economy, hence saving $5,500,  the very money that Tostan then used to fund the pilot project. Just goes to show that a little thrift can go a long way!)  Tostan has also paid for a feasibility study to be conducted to see if the waste project can be expanded to the areas of Mbour and Thies. Impressed by the success of the project, both the World Wildlife Fund and the US Embassy have committed to help finance further recycling initiatives.

As in many developing countries, over 80% of the waste in the region of Joal is organic, in contrast to only 44% of the waste in the US, because Americans are fans of processed and pre-packaged foods: think of those pineapples, neatly pre-cut into slices and Saran-wrapped onto styrofoam trays, or even those carrots which are pre-peeled and put into plastic bags for the harried First World consumer.

For the project, the locals, who fortunately are not squeamish about garbage, were asked to set aside their organic waste, which was picked up five days a week by a man with a cart and donkey. All this was preceded by a gala event affectionately referred to as the ‘poubelle party,’ which entailed preparing the trash receptacles for distribution to the villagers. Some volunteers appeared to help affix illustrated stickers (often more effective than the written word, especially given illiteracy rates) of the types of organic waste that should go into the trash cans. Others numbered the cans to prevent theft while others bored holes into the receptacles so that they would not be used to store rice, water or ice or used for anything but their intended purpose. Residents paid the nominal sum of 1000 CFA, or around two dollars, for the two cans (one for organic, one for non-organic waste) so that they would be both literally and figuratively ‘invested’ in the project, and this was another stroke of genius that really worked.

Moreover, once the local women became accustomed to putting ‘gray water’, or water from their laundry, cooking and cleaning aside for use at the composting facility rather than dumping it into the nearby estuary, they were adamant about continuing to do so: given the choice, they far preferred to do the ‘right’ thing, as long as it was even remotely convenient.

As for the men, after the waste was brought to the facility, it was they who sifted through the compost, ultimately bagging it for sale as fertilizer. One excellent thing about the local fertilizer is that it is nitrogen-rich because of the heavily fish-based diet enjoyed by the Senegalese. Various tests have shown that the Joal fertilizer far outperforms chemical-based fertilizers. A fifty kilo bag of prime fertilizer is sold for 1500 CFA, or three US dollars, and now the community can hardly keep up with the demand.

I find it extraordinarily moving and inspiring to think that when enthusiasm is combined with ingenuity, money can really be made out of literally nothing, empowering both individuals and communities.

The lessons learned in Joal are ones that can and should be applied all over the world, for they stimulate the economy, benefit the environment and promote international friendship and cooperation, so a round of applause here for Nicole Dewing and Curtis McCormack, compatriots of mine living here in Senegal who cared enough to take action by spearheading the pilot project.

 About the Author : Tamara-Diana Braunstein brings us her stories from Senegal every week. She was born in Brooklyn, New York. She is a restless wanderer who earned an MA from the University of Freiburg and has worked in a youth hostel in the French Alps, a law firm in Montreal, the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as in university press publishing. At the moment her home base is Dakar, Senegal, where she is supposed to be teaching but is doing far more learning, as you will see by reading her blog at www.senegalschoolmarm.blogspot.com