Easter Island and the Garbage Problem

Easter Island is extremely vulnerable to garbage. There is hardly any place to store garbage; in fact there’s only one garbage dump. Not only people living on the island but also the tourists produce garbage. Lately the islanders collected plastic garbage that the ocean had drifted onto its shores.

Garbage is divided into several categories, so that some of the garbage can be recycled. 

The collection bins have notions in Rapanui and Spanish (Castellano). The black bin is for aluminum, the red one for electronic waste, the blue one for paper and carton, the yellow one for plastic bottles, and the green one for glass or glass bottles. Everything should be cleaned before being dropped into these collection bins.

Plastic bottles can be flattened and pressed, but have to be transported back to mainland Chile.

Still there remains lots of garbage that can’t be separated and recycled. What should become of this waste? Build a new island? No, only restrictions on what can be taken to Easter Island may reduce the problem.

 

That's all I have concerning the garbage dump - a picture out of a running car on a rainy day

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