Garbage: Waste and Slums

“Basura” is discarded food wastes or any other unwanted or useless material. It is also called as garbage. Garbage makes places untidy and even smelly. It ruins the surroundings when it’s just placed somewhere. Fortunately, we have our garbage man to collect it.

Some people may benefit from “basura”, but some may not. The well-offs do not benefit from these things. They do not want these trashes. Actually, garbage or “basura” is from them. That’s why they throw it; because it’s dirty. It makes their place unlikable, unpleasant and displeasing. But, it doesn’t mean that society is just composed of this kind of living. There are also slums. They benefit from these. They hunt for materials that can be recycled and be produced for another purpose. This would help them survive, because with the materials they have, they can sell it to junk shops and recycling shops. From these shops, they would be earning money. Their money would be their living and would buy them their basic needs. But in some cases, they lack money to buy food. Their survival would be at stake, fortunately there is always a solution for their problem. Slums sometimes make “batchoy” for their meals. “Batchoy” is composed of mixed food wastes. They serve as meals for the slums. They get these from restaurant junks or in garbage bins. For them such problems are just normal. They are used to it.
Even though it’s pretty hard to survive with the way they live, they were able to get use to it. But with this situation, merely the government wants to improve it. Problems like these are solved by the government. But it doesn’t mean that they can stop it, they might prevent it, but they can’t stop it. Our population bloats everyday. They can never stop the status quo. “Basura” will always be present. Government, may use machines for recycling, establish programs about recycling, and even convince communities to recycle, but they can never stop the increasing number of garbage. Likewise, it might not help the slums because they benefit from these.

Mainly, garbage consists of 2 kinds of wastes: biodegradable and non-biodegradable. These 2 waste divisions have its own way to decompose. Biodegradable products are easier to decompose than the non-biodegradable ones. Our Mother Earth is experiencing bad conditions. One of this is the displacement of our garbage. That’s why our world now, promotes green bags that are made out of papers or bags. Plastic is one kind of non-biodegradable wastes. It is said that it decomposes after decades of years which is very unconditional for our mother earth. While the biodegradable waste products, somehow benefit our environment. Biodegradable decomposes easily than the non-biodegradable, because biodegradable wastes are essentially from our mother nature. Fruit peelings, vegetable peelings and papers are kinds of biodegradable products. These wastes are sorted from one to another. It is separated so that decomposition would be faster, so we could produce another product from the original one. Because biodegradable wastes are easier to decompose, the society intends to recycle it after using, by giving it back to nature. There are built machines to provide as our helpers to make these to soil again. But, it doesn’t end there; these are just done by the middle society. The lower class does not benefit from the actions, middle class does. It makes the lower class worse. Government would help, but it would not erase the whole problem because garbage reproduces as we reproduce.

Problems like this aren’t given enough attention. Garbage is just normal. It pleases others and displeases some. The middle class, well-offs, bourgeoisie and government would produce these things. While slums, lower class would benefit from it. It’s the cycle of life. People will learn how to recycle after these misconceptions. Unfortunately, it would never give benefit to the environment. Even if the other kind of waste, biodegradable can be decomposed immediately, it would always be with the non-biodegradable, which would always be a bad source for the environment. Garbage isn’t a good product of the public. Vaguely, it benefits one class of the society.

In conclusion, garbage will always be there. It would please and displease many. Garbage has its own advantages and disadvantages. It would stay as we stay, reproduce as we reproduce, and will never fade.