Stop Landfills

Stop LANDFILLS
(2.25min)
Camapign and Education Video

Waste is a symbol of inefficiency. We want to get away from it or want to hide it. But it follows us and makes us swallow it. With waste come other thugs to scavenge on it. They can be expressed as "Corruption (bureaucracy + politicians + business + scientists) = Disaster (people + environment + economy + justice + culture)"
This is the result of wrong perceptions or notions about waste. Wrong questions always fetch wrong answers. End of the pipe solutions like landfills, incineration or centralised waste management will not solve the issue of waste.

This movie was shot at Vilappilsala a beautiful village lying on the spur hills of Western Ghats. Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation -- the capital city of Kerala -- started a centralised mixed waste management facility in this village despite of protests and warning from all walks of life in 2000. In two years it proved to be a wrong choice and decision which led to the failure of the project. In 2005 the Govt. also acknowledged that it is a failure. By this time about 200,000 metric tonnes of discards from composting process have been piled up in the opening of the valley where a stream originates and joins the river which feeds drinking water for the city and surrounding villages. To hide that great blunder the authority have decided to 'cap' it, a kind of land filling of waste 'as and where it is'. Besides this the Government also decided to compensate the private company who created this problem with Rs.15 crores ($ 3.4 million) and is spending Rs.1.25 crores ($ 284,000) to cap the existing mount of wate! No criminal procedure, no legal action against the company who polluted the entire land and drinking water of millions of people! No compensation for the villagers and farmers who lost their livelihood, land and health! This is the story everywhere.

Landfills do not solve the issue of waste. They are only postponing a problem for some time. It is like a time bomb which is set to destroy our future. It is proven that all landfills will leak and it is a truth. Let us SAY NO TO LANDFILLS and work towards a zero waste community. ACT NOW!

For more information contact GAIA at www.no-burn.org and Thanal at www.thanal.org

If you found this video relevant and useful, let us know. If you want a DVD or CD copy for screening, write to zerowaste@thanal.org

Camera -- Canon GL2 NTSC
Editing software -- Adobe premier and Adobe photoshop
Concept & camera -- Shibu K. Nair, Editing and Graphix -- Raj Thanu
Produced by -- Thanal for Campaign on Zero Waste

Thanal is a public interest research and campaign organisation based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (India). Working on Environmental justice and health.

Thanal, H-3, Jawaharnagar, Kawdiar P.O. Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India -- 695003.
Tel +91 471 2727150, email: thanal@vsnl.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• landfills
• waste
• zerowaste
• campaign

[shibuknair]

Dear friend,

Thanks for your attention. Actually by burrying the waste, we are eating the waste or absorbing and accumulating in our body throug the water we are drinking, the air we breath and the food we eat. So burrying is not solving the problem of waste.

[govindwarier]

Decentralised Management of Waste is being done at Panaji (Goa). But, de-centralised management of waste is not prescribed by the manual on Solid waste management. it porposes only centralised processing & disposal facilities.

[shibuknair]

@govindwarier

Dear friend, MSW 2000 Rule do not prohibit decentralised waste management or resource recovery. It specifies that all organic should be treated using biological method, all recyclables should be sent for recycling and only inerts should be landfilled.

shibu

[EvP1228]

doesn't ash make good fertilizer? so if trash is burnt can't it be used?

[shibuknair]

@EvP1228 please visit website of GAIA for the info on problems associated with waste incineration. thanks

[JustSomePerson888]

9 people are evil litterbugs

[JustSomePerson888]

@EvP1228 - oh right, cheers. as usual this website didn't bother telling me you replied...

[EvP1228]

@justsomeperson888 thank you for clearing that up

[JustSomePerson888]

@EvP1228 - absolutely not. ash from organic matter is ok of course, though still has carbon etc emissions (which of course isn't an issue - if organic matter was the only type ever being burned (reasonable amounts). but it isn't), but the majority of landfill waste is toxic as it is, to burn it releases all those toxins into the air, and from there they pollute the air and end up in the seas and land again too.

you may wish to look up 'biochar'.

[JustSomePerson888]

@HectorJCedillo - or bury it into the mantle? there isn't any other option than something of that type, in terms of actually removing the problem. transmutation is the only other way, if you were somehow able to change the garbages state to that of the frequency of a desired atom or compound, and re-solidify it into that. so to speak.

[JustSomePerson888]

@HectorJCedillo - garbage. if they can solve it with 'high tech' then what is the problem with producing so much waste in the first place then? there shouldn't be anything being produced that isn't biodegradable safely, or recyclable, or reusable, or compostable.

The only evolved way forward is to recognise that fact, and not actually produce things that don't fall into those categories. As for what is there already, which is bedsores on the Earths body, fire it into the Sun!?

[HectorJCedillo]

Actually landfills are not the problem! Most modern landfills are a little more complicated than just putting trash in a hole! A typical landfill that fallows code and laws can can be collect leachate and keep it from entering water systems! Also methane gas caused from all the trash decomposing is now collected from landfills is converted to electric energy! Sure the idea of a world of recycling would be very believable to be a great solution. But in all reality half the world wont recycle!

[halflifeh]

No offense but what will we do with the waste.......eat it? I guess we have to bury it for safety. True recycle what we can but bury useless things.