Piantini 1

Camila Piantini

Pedro Libert

English C1-A

4/25/2022

Where do you see the most trash? How does it make you feel?

Today's generation have been taught to be wasteful. We produce enormous quantities of

waste, then try to bury it or burn it and forget it. But it cannot be forgotten. It washes up on our
beaches, it reappears as air pollution, it creeps into our water supply, it comes back to haunt us. A
throwaway society is not a sustainable society. A garbage crisis is at hand. As a nation, we have
begun to worry that the growing mounds of wastes will only continue to increase as the means of
disposal become further restricted.

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic, boasts a total
population of 3.3 million and is expected to reach 4 million by 2030. Today, Santo Domingo is the
cultural, financial, political, commercial, and industrial center with the most important industries
in the country located within the city.

The city faces an alarming set of environmental problems caused by the improper disposal
of solid waste. A large part of the waste is dumped directly into the Ozama River by informal
settlements causing a continuous toxic presence of plastics and other types of hazardous waste in
the ocean. This inadequate and inefficient waste management is one of the main causes of the
garbage stream that ends up on the beach of Santo Domingo.

The worst part of all is, that the garbage collected is transported to the landfill of La
Duquesa, is the only one in operation in the region. One of the main problems of the landfill is its
lack of capacity and it is expected to close in 2022. This is one of the main reasons why solid waste
management is a key concern for the city. Once the collected garbage reaches the landfill, only a
small portion goes through the manual recycling process. This is one of the biggest and most
serious problems regarding solid waste, in addition, the landfill is not sanitized and therefore
 Piantini| 2

causes a lot of pollution in the air, water and land since the emissions go directly to the environment.
The landfill is also highly prone to methane fires. This general condition makes the landfill one
unsustainable and dangerous for the environment.

How do i feel? In Santo Domingo inhabit 3.3 million people, 2.5 million tourists are
received a year, 1.3 kg of garbage is produced per day, where we can calculate that per day, about
4,000 metric tons of garbage is generated, these numbers indicate massive amounts, isn't this
shameful? That we are the number one country in the Caribbean where the largest number of
foreigners in the region are located? We really should set an example as a country, to show people
that change is achieved if the government and poorly educated people propose it, and that in this
way, other developed countries are probably inspired and contribute to the cause by doing their bit.
Unfortunately, smoking is no longer necessary to inhale lethal air. Air pollution, today, kills more
people than tobacco. In 2014, the World Health Organization estimated that one in eight deaths in
the world were due to air pollution, and now it is known that there are more, so, from this, we must
become aware and contribute, since apart from being able to avoid the damage to the environment
that surrounds us, we can achieve that we have a healthy life without difficulties.
 Piantini| 3

Works Cited

Kangasmӓki, Jari, 2022, Ahogándonos en basura – Caso Santo Domingo, República

Dominicana, Woima Corporation.

https://woimacorporation.com/ahogandonos-en-basura-caso-santo-domingo-republica-

dominicana/amp/

Martín, Bruno, 10 March 2019, París, “Vamos a morir de la contaminación ambiental si

no actuamos”, El País.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/15/ciencia/1552646209_822000.html?outputType=amp