Text and image Audry Wajwakana
PARAMARIBO — The Tropical playground and the Desi Samson Sports Center are a meeting place for children, athletes and local residents of Kasahabolo. On Thursday afternoon, local residents walked with bags of plastic waste, such as PET bottles, to the colorful collection bin that was officially put into use on Anwar Sadat Street. From now on, different types of plastic and aluminum drinks cans can be thrown separately.
The collection bin is an initiative of Fernandes Group & Companies in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Foundation, the Pan American Development Foundation and the Support Recycling Suriname (Suresur) foundation. The area will be named ‘Recycle Community Center’. Dominique Schal from Fernandes Group explains that the initiative is intended to encourage waste separation and prevent packaging waste from ending up on the street or in nature. Together with Suresur, the company has now placed fourteen of these bins across all ten districts.
“Even if you tell people not to throw trash on the street, they do it anyway”
Local resident Elene Buitenman
Clogged drains
The collection bin has come at the right time for the local residents of Kasabaholo. Imro Sleur and Elene Buitenman explain, carrying their collected waste the True Time that not everyone in Kasabaholo handles waste carefully. “Even if you tell people not to throw trash on the street, they do it anyway,” says Buitenman.
The neighborhood also suffers from flooding. During heavy rainfall, some streets are flooded up to knee height, even penetrating homes. A resident has already experienced this three times. Ruts point to drains that are clogged with sand and plastic bottles, making it difficult for rainwater to drain. The government has been cleaning the sewers for several weeks, but the problems have not yet been resolved.
The residents realize that they themselves must also contribute to a cleaner living environment. Sleur has been separating plastic waste from the rest at home for years and takes the collected bottles every Sunday to a collection point on the corner of Franchepanestraat and Lalla Rookhweg. But not everyone has transport for that. “It’s now within walking distance,” he notes with satisfaction.
Fine
Secretary Bron of the Kasabaholo 2001 foundation says that bottles lying around at the playground and the sports field have been an annoyance for a long time. Chairman Milton Clark therefore takes on some of the supervision. He will ensure that the bin is used correctly and will inform Suresur when the collection bags need to be collected.
This supervision is important, because during commissioning it appears that not everyone reads the information on the collection boxes. Fernandes and Suresur will therefore provide information about waste separation.
Schal emphasizes that as a beverage manufacturer, the company also bears responsibility for packaging waste. In addition to the collection bins, Fernandes supports various cleaning actions and recycling initiatives.
Suresur chairman Glenn Ramdjan welcomes the involvement of the neighborhood, but emphasizes that the litter problem will not be solved with collection bins alone. Awareness and enforcement are also necessary. He points out that a fine of SRD 10,000 can be imposed for careless disposal of waste. Many citizens do not know that this sanction exists.
Legislation
Suresur is working on draft legislation for extended producer responsibility, whereby companies are obliged to contribute to the collection of their packaging waste. Ramdjan hopes that the draft law can be presented to the National Assembly at the end of this year or early next year. Ultimately, the foundation wants to move towards a system in which separated packaging waste is collected door-to-door, possibly linked to a financial reward.
The new collection bin offers the residents of Kasabaholo the opportunity to hand in waste closer to home. At the same time, their wish remains that not only litter will disappear, but also flooding will be tackled, so that people can walk on the streets again without any problems during and after every rain shower.
