Big Idea about Trash

Trash is a problem in the DR. Well, trash is a problem everywhere, but it’s much more obvious here without effective waste management to bury it out of sight. Many people burn garbage to keep their environment clean, which has become a health hazard with the use of plastic/styrofoam packaging. Resorts often take the cheap way out and just find an out of the way place to dump, then end up cleaning other resorts’ garbage off their beaches. At Ranch Magante, we found out that the all-inclusive 1,000 room resort across the road had been dumpuing their waste on one of the fields they are now trying to cultivate. We hoed and shoveled up an incredible amount of trash, which got me thinking about to solve this issue. 

Idea: Require corporations to pay rent on the landfill space their items will take up after disposal.

Outcomes:

• Incentive for businesses to start/support recycling/repurposing programs. 
• Decrease production and/or increase price of disposable products.
• Decrease consumption of resources, especially petroleum-based, non-biodegradables.