what’s with the rubbish everywhere?
by someone who tries to create as little waste as possible
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Do people not see it? Do they not care? Are they so used to dropping their scraps (paper, cans, bottles, food, plastic) that there is no alternative means of disposal in their worldview? Does it not bother them?
Would there be fewer rats (there’s a new one squashed on our street almost every day) if the rubbish wasn’t lying about? Would that be a desirable proposition or are rats not a problem either?
Why did the noodle lady flick a piece of paper off the plastic chair onto the ground before I sat down? Why not put it in a bin? Then there wouldn’t be close to a hundred tissues on the floor.
Is it just me? Am I too sterile? Do I need to harden up? Is there anything inherently wrong about having rubbish on the ground? (*hygiene* springs to mind, but maybe that’s a grandmotherly cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness fallacy???)
Speaking of hygiene, there is no shortage of public toilets in Cambodia. A small girl lifts her skirt, squats down on the foot path and wees. Grown women do the same and men use walls, lampposts, bushes, straight in the gutter.
We walk down the middle of the road when we can. I don’t want to harden up.
Tags: health, postcard: Cambodia, toilet
rayres
no you are not too sterile, no you do not need to harden up! it’s just plain unslightly too.. think about the pristine (parts of the) waitakere ranges, then imagine them covered in rubbish. not cool.
‘dont just chuck the rubbish away’ OK so where do I put it? There are no rubbish containers on the streets. ‘So take it home then’ And then what? No weekly rubbish collection here! Not even an annual collection!(and have you seen what I call home?) ‘Well then, burn it’ Have you seen the haze that already hovers over everything?
When a country is broke, when there is corruption and graft in high places, when money is only spent to make more money, spending it on collecting rubbish sounds like a very bad joke. So dont blame the population – the answers are not simple
Singapore in the late 40’s used to look like this. Malaysia in the early 50’s used to look like this. Now both countries are as clean or cleaner than our precious Waitakeres. But it takes time and will.
Don’t hold your breath!
I believe poverty has little to do with it. I truly believe that SE Asians simply find littered streets as “normal”.
I come from Orange County California, home to “Little Saigon”, the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. Here, the local business owners (Vietnamese) have spent millions rebuilding and “beautifying” the city.
The streets, parking lots and sidewalks are covered with litter. People will be standing next to a bin, yet drop their trash on the ground. A car door will open and trash will be dumped.
I really don’t understand why they do it, but I don’t believe it has anything to do with economics. Little Saigon, for the most part, is an affluent neighborhood.