You can find more posts about trash here. Fascinating subject, eh?
Tag: waste
Takes away all the fun
After losing the closest trash container to fire three times, and the next closest once, and both at the same time most recently, we were glad to see them replaced. In our case, however, replaced with other beat-up plastic bins.
Meanwhile, closer to the beach, new metal ones have joined the aging plastic bins. They still have plastic tops which will no doubt rot in the Uruguayan sun, but at least the whole thing can’t be burned to the ground!
Previous posts about the “modern” garbage containers.
Update: basureros
Not sure what inspired them to get to work again, but they have.
Beach nice and clean again, even a liner in the “trash can.”
The street not as much, but still a major improvement. If there were any full-time residents living near this one, someone like me might take a shovel and finish the cleanup.
Not sure what’s up with the basureros
basura: trash
basureros: them wot spozed to quitar the basura
The day before tourist season officially starts, it appears the basureros have decided not to work.
When they resume, will they pick up all the overflow? Curiously, along the Rambla (beachfront road), the containers have been emptied. The two closest to us were burned to the ground (one for the third time) about a month ago. When I called the Intendencia to inquire, they explained that they were waiting for new, equally flammable (OK, they didn’t say that) containers, so at present had no replacements.
Meanwhile, the usually-diligent beach crew seems to have slacked off as well.
In case you’re curious, the breed of that hunkering creature in the background—who has gone from 10 kg to over 20 kg in less than two months—has finally been established. It’s a rare Oriental Spinkle-Faced Sand Hound.
More about the funky, UV-prone, flammable trash containers:
- A new, modernized trash collection system
- Not the start of a trend, we hope
- Trash containers, over time
- Plastic doesn’t fare well in Uruguay
Cajun-style comadreja
Cajun-style comadreja, with essence of plastic
I’ve spoken of our trash collection system before.
Last night, for the third time, our closest container was burned. Yeah, it makes some kind of great sense to collect trash in flammable containers.
Just as it makes sense to purchase for Uruguay trash containers from a country with absolutely no UV problem: Germany. Plastic doesn’t fare well here.
However, the irony—or synchronicity—in this current destruction is that my wife took a shovel yesterday to remove the body of a dead possum (comadreja) from the road, and threw it in that container.
So the little critter got a proper cremation.
Well, almost. From the attention our garbage-hound Gita gave today, apparently there are some Cajun tidbits still edible by her standards (shared by almost no other living thing besides ants and bacteria).
Hmmm.
I don’t know why I find this interesting.
In fact, I’m not sure I do.
They’ll burn everything but the kitchen sink
Trash containers, over time
It has been 2-1/2 year since the trash containers appeared. And less than two years since the one on our corner was burned to the ground (for the first time).
The spray paint on this one has mostly disappeared, showing the UV protection it offered the otherwise now-faded plastic.
I don’t know if this resulted from rough handling or solar ultraviolet. Probably a combo. It’s not the only one, by a long shot.
Totally irresponsible
Heading up from the beach, I saw a column of smoke rising. Before crossing the dunes, putting my shoes on, I heard men’s voices. Getting to the road, I saw a blazing, untended fire not far from one of the flammable garbage containers.
Twenty meters further, a woman backed out of her driveway, stopped by me and said ¡Que horrible! I asked her who did it. Los jardineros. But there’s nobody here, I replied. It appears that the gardeners who had been working nearby piled up the brush, lit it on fire, and left for the day.
I’ve mentioned this behavior before, but this is a little extreme.
But hey, it was time to go home.
Another rare Glove Fish sighted!
Oh, OK, can’t fool you. Obviously it’s the same Glove Fish, a hundred meters further west on the beach.
However, I did see red and white carnations and candles washed up over several hundred meters. No point letting those go to waste.
When I light them, I will say a silent blessing for whatever their original intended use.