Teacher connection: Garbage and selective collection

As a student and a goer of the UFC Humanities Centre, I believe the trash issue is one of the problems that we, students and citizens, should care about. It is not pleasing for the people who come and go through the Centre to see a dirty or ill cared place. In my everyday going to the HC, I see people who do not respect the environmental and the other people (yes, when you do not respect the environmental, you are, even if it is indirectly, disrespecting other people) and throw the garbage on the floor – sometimes they’re in front of a dump and do not care of throwing the garbage on it. The HC is, at least, sufficiently equipped with dumps – the usual dumps and the selective collection dumps –, but they are not used most of the time and, when it is being used, we can see plastic in the glass’ place, metal in the paper’s place and so on. I can think of some possible causes of this: people do not know the minimum benefits of making a selective collection, or they just do not care whether their descendants will have a livable world or not, or they are not being well instructed in the using of it. Making the selective collection works is not a difficult task, it requires only some specific cares on how you are supposed to stock the waste (for instance, if you consume a carton of milk and you want to put it on the selective collection, you are supposed to open it, wash it and let it dry in order for it to be serviceable). I made a little research of the selective collection benefits and I’ve found some interesting points. If you or your city or your university campus is making a selective collection, you are helping to: lower deforestation, lower extraction of natural sources, lower soil, water and air pollution, reduction of production costs with the reuse of recyclables by the industry, waste reduction, prevention of floods, reduced cost with garbage collection, opportunity for stronger cooperatives and job and income generation with the collection and sale of recyclables. The prefectures, governments and rectories should offer a program of awareness of the selective collection benefits and should also guide people on how to utilize it appropriately and, in the case of Fortaleza, you would preventing floods in the areas of risk and avoiding people from losing their homes and, sometimes, their lives.