12/10/12

THE PLASTIC WARS




Untreated medical wastes are drained into the sea

Globalization is often touted as the solve it all solution of the problems this world faces today. However there are several very highly toxic effects of globalization as well. For instance these seemingly dissipating borders means that the western world has been and even now is engaged in dumping its plastic and medical waste to third world countries. They are able to do so as there is a lack of whistle blowing as well as checks and balances in countries like Pakistan, Indonesia which has been subjected to dumping for the last 30 odd years.

On my visit to Semarang two days ago I along with some other media friends of mine took a drive down to Banyumanik which is the scrapyard heaven in Semarang. I see crushed plastic, piles of medical waste, IV tubes and infusion bags lying on the ground in warehouse and people coming to buy them, I caught hold of one of the kids who works there, to my utter shock he tells me that local manufacturers who make plastic products even down to utensils come and buy this scrap to reuse!




One begins to wonder, how are Indonesian’s authorities allowing this dumping of hazardous materials on our soil? The case though is a multilayered one with many of these materials being passed off and misdeclared in our customs under "plastic scrap" and other categories to be cleared and sold off by importers. What they cannot sell off they dispose, so they are hand in hand with the whole process. Many of our hospitals too are often found disposing medical waste in their own backyards or adjacent rubbish heaps, to the extent that several unborn fetuses have been routinely popping up all over Indonesia in waste heaps.

 
Although a strengthening and overhaul of customs law as well as more diligence on control of such imports will prove useful. It is of utmost importance that local communities get involved in keeping our country clean of such products. For this purpose reporting such waste piles are key, too long have we been exposed to harmful diseases due to lack of vigilance. The effort will require us to not drive past burning heaps of open air rubbish in our city and stop to ask why and who is exposing us to these hazardous materials. More can also be achieved by organizing community cleaning drives and not restricting them to beach fronts.

Only if we ourselves show care for the environment around us can we effect change in keeping it safe and livable here in my country, Indonesia.


 




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Devi for highlighting an ONGOING catastrophe. Bacteria and disease are not going away with the unconscionable disposal and use of chemicals, never mind how the poor are affected, perhaps thriving off of this festering problem (as shown in your photos). Here in Indonesia I am currently have an eye infection from bacteria pollutants in the air. And yet the US government is not allowing me to send the CHEMICAL FREE eye drops that i need because of a fear of terrorism...Dari Angelika

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We yearn for some explosive, extraordinary escape from the inescapable and, none forthcoming, we put our faith in an apocalyptic rupture whereby the inevitable is solved by the unbelievable grasshoppers, plagues, composite monsters, angels, blood in industrial quantities, and, in the end, salvation from sin and evil--meaning anxiety, travail, and pain. By defining human suffering in cosmic terms, as part of a cosmic order that contains an issue, catastrophe is dignified, endowed with meaning, and hence made bearable.