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It's trashy

BajaBlanca - 6-18-2012 at 08:53 PM

a group called WILDCOAST or COSTASALVAGE is here in town and staying with us.

They are running a 3 day workshop on recycling and waste management that is really interesting.

One thing I learned is that when we mix metals and paper and plastic with organic trash, we create toxic chemicals which sink into the ground, and we create fumes which pollute the air. I had never heard this before and am frankly, shocked.

I also learned that if we compost organic matter, we cut down trash by 40% right then and there.

LA BOCANA will start 3 composting sites by Wednesday (if all goes well) and I for one will try to get every single citizen to participate. What an easy solution that we can all easily do to make the world a better place for our kids and grandkids.

I didn't get good pics today but I will tomorrow and the next day !

Next weekend, these folk head to BAHIA ASUNCION where they will hold a full on forum, inviting people from LA BOCANA, PUNTA ABREOJOS, BAY OF LA, TORTUGAS - they will talk about organic and inorganic separation of trash, reusing and recycling as well as arts and crafts workshops.

Living and learning. the spice of life for me.

Ateo - 6-18-2012 at 08:59 PM

WILDCOAST is great!

bajachris - 6-18-2012 at 10:28 PM

Burning plastic creates dioxins. This is not a chemical you want to inhale. It is not a good idea to burn plastics. Also don't stand down wind of any burning trash. A lot of the organic matter, food stuffs can be used to feed farm animals like chickens and pigs provided its fresh. We give our organic matter to our local farmer. This is not new science. It's probably illegal, but we bring our recyclable trash (plastic, glass and metal) back to the US to recycle. I just can't stand the thought of that stuff being burned in an open landfill somewhere in Baja.

redhilltown - 6-19-2012 at 12:46 AM

Good for you BajaChris !!!!

boe4fun - 6-19-2012 at 06:51 AM

Blanca, from your title I was expecting maybe porn. But this is MUCH MUCH better!

bajalinda - 6-19-2012 at 09:04 AM

Thanks for that info Blanca. Can you tell us a bit more about this organization? Are they independent? non-profit? governmental? And how did they happen to show up in La Bocana? Does the community invite them or do they just show up? or what?

gnukid - 6-19-2012 at 09:25 AM

Compost is worth more than Gold in Baja!

BajaBlanca - 6-19-2012 at 09:47 AM

bajalinda: Sofia is here and she said she would love to talk to you about the organization or anything else:

Her email is - Sofia Gomez" <sofia.gomez@wildcoast.net>,

http://www.wildcoast.net is the information on the organization. I know them cause I have always been so concerned with the trash problem here, so I contacted them years ago when I was in San Diego (They have an office in IB). I did not get a chanc e to meet them at the time, but this was the start of a great exchange.

I am so glad I went to the workshop yssterday. I now have a brand new understanding of the consequences of not having a compost. I started separating last night and the amount of organic matter trash is easily over 50% of what we produce, trashwise, in this household. Had you asked me yesterday morning, I would have guessed maybe maybe 10 to 15 %. Jeeez.

[Edited on 6-19-2012 by BajaBlanca]

bajalinda - 6-19-2012 at 12:00 PM

Thanks Blanca! And I have to ask what or where is IB? My brain has not figured that one out.........

DianaT - 6-19-2012 at 12:09 PM

IB is Imperial Beach south of San Diego and just north of the Border --- it is where Serge Dedina lives and he is the founder of Wildcoast --- a very active and good organization.

BajaBlanca - 6-19-2012 at 09:05 PM

Here are some pics from the workshop today which dealt with making art out of "trash"

Here is Sofia, seen from the back, with the company t-shirt:

Here is Adriana who is giving the 3 workshops:

Here is the videographer - Xavier:

Today's workshop involved making arts and crafts, which we did, but here are some pics of creative crafts Adriana showed us:

we saw so many different and amazing reuses for newspaper and magazines and one of the worst offenders: the soda pop plastic bottles which take some 100 years to disintegrate ...

We were also told that in the 50's, companies started to actually make decisions on how long a product should last so that they could create a need. We were also told that as of the 50's, in the US, the trend was more and more consumerism and this trend also led to increased dissatisfaction with life in general.

Tomorrow I will post on composting.

Eco-Art, Trashique

Mulegena - 6-20-2012 at 05:42 AM

Things made beautiful from discards.

Nan, of Bahia Asuncion, makes yard sculptures from metal.

A girlfriend here in Mulege makes a variety wallhangings and home decoration
from pretty shells and broken stuff that washes up on the beaches.

I love it, and am soooo interested in your upcoming post on composting.

Thanks a million. Love this, Blanca.

mtgoat666 - 6-20-2012 at 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBlanca
We were also told that in the 50's, companies started to actually make decisions on how long a product should last so that they could create a need. We were also told that as of the 50's, in the US, the trend was more and more consumerism and this trend also led to increased dissatisfaction with life in general.

woe is me! i was born after the US declined into state of "dissatisfaction with life in general."

i like wildcoast, they got a hip approach. seems like a good org for earnest idealistic youth to save the world, hope they don't get disillusioned and keep up the good fight.

think globally, act locally!! :bounce:

BajaBlanca - 6-20-2012 at 07:06 AM

think globally and act locally is PERFECT. we each and every one make a huge impact on the environment.

woe is me too .... born in the 50's.

Mulegena - if you can, post some pics of the artwork ?????

Mulegena - 6-20-2012 at 08:59 AM

Shari has posted pix of Nan's yard art some years ago.

Burbs - 6-20-2012 at 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gnukid
Compost is worth more than Gold in Baja!

We live on the Mex #1. It seems like there is more old cars(squished) going north than other goods. It might be that Baja #1 export is old squished up cars. Where is all this old(iron) stuff going?
--I'm going to ask Jose at the recycle place outside of Mulege more about his program and how it is working for him.
-- I feel most gringo's Canadian and Americans really don't care where their trash goes.....they just wave and point about how it looks bad as they drive by. The ones who live here year around DO CARE!

BajaBlanca - 6-20-2012 at 01:42 PM

I think that most Americans and Canadian who come to Baja are concerned with the garbage situation, even if they don't live here .... It takes a special personality to come to Baja and along with that personality is a certain appreciation for all things very natural. Just my opinion from what I have observed ....

Regarding composting, I asked Adriana, who will be giving the presentation, about coffee grounds since I had added them to the compost material we are collecting. She says that not only can used coffee grounds be added to a compost but they can actually be put directly on plants ... they apparently give the plants a jolt and they grow faster.

makes sense, verdad ?

Mulegena - 6-20-2012 at 02:28 PM

Burbs, glad to see you more active on the board.

Regarding the mashed up cars and big ugly heavy metal stuff heading north: I believe its China-bound via Los Angeles. Somebody chime in here if you know more than me. A number of years ago I met a young Chicano guy whose family was in the business. He was down here on a busman's holiday, taking a few days at Punta Chivato before going back to the trade of import/export, I believe he told me.

Actually, I concur with Blanca: I do think tourists are concerned down here, but what can you do but take care of your own trash if you're on vacation in a foreign country, a rhetorical question; its for the individual to answer.

As a committed Baja full-timer and homebuilder I'm personally concerned with keeping a light ecological footprint and making my life as efficient as possible.

Good to know about the coffee grinds going direct. I guess they wouldn't attract c-ckroaches (can you imagine an ugly roach on speed?) but they grounds would make the soil more acidic. I think I'll put them in my barrel-roll composter to aerate the mix.

Anxious to hear a conference report, Blanca. Thanks, Teacher.

What to compost

Mulegena - 6-22-2012 at 07:42 PM

http://madbioneer.blogspot.mx/2009/03/what-to-compost.html

Above is the link written by The Mad Bioneer, "MAD BIONEER
SCIENTISTS STUDY THE WORLD TO GATHER KNOWLEDGE. ENGINEERS UTILIZE THIS KNOWLEDGE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. THIS BLOG IS ABOUT USING BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TO ENGINEER BETTER GARDENS, MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEMS, TASTIER FOODS, AND, WELL, ANYTHING ELSE I CAN THINK OF."

This is a wonderfully candid and simple explanation of what to throw in and how to toss it. I resurrected Blanca's original thread as this pertains to the generic introduction that she initiated and has been discussed on various threads this week.

Enjoy.

bajalinda - 6-23-2012 at 09:37 AM

OK - here's a question that's been bugging me. If mixing plastic (or paper or metals) with organic trash creates toxic chemicals and fumes that go into the ground and air, why are the workshop people using a plastic garbage bag to line the compost bin and plastic to cover the hole-in-the-ground compost bin?

Sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade here - I'm all for composting too. I guess you need to enclose the composting material with something so that a certain amount of heat is created, but there must be something other than plastic that you can use. Help me here - am I way off base with this or spot on?

shari - 6-23-2012 at 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Burbs

-- I feel most gringo's Canadian and Americans really don't care where their trash goes.....they just wave and point about how it looks bad as they drive by. The ones who live here year around DO CARE!

I have to agree with this...although there are some visitors who make an effort...but very few. I have attempted to inform our guests before they come that they dont have to bring cases of bottled water as each rental comes with a 5 gallon garafon of purified water and they can buy alot of food and water here locally which makes for much less garbage. I am amazed how much trash visitors produce in a few days...mostly plastic food containers from costco and non refundable beer bottles.

Green before Green was Cool

MrBillM - 6-23-2012 at 10:24 AM

Late 60s-Early 70s.

Living in Manhattan Beach a block up from the sand in an Oft-Condemned rental house, I took inspiration from an example I saw elsewhere and started saving EVERY SINGLE aluminum (Beercan) poptop, easily acquiring 1000s over a couple of years given our consumption.

Strung them together to form chains that I hung in crossing patterns from the open beamed ceilings.

The end-result wasn't exactly Green, though. When I left, I dumped them all in the trash can.

Mulegena - 6-23-2012 at 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajalinda
OK - here's a question... why are the workshop people using a plastic garbage bag to line the compost bin and plastic to cover the hole-in-the-ground compost bin?...I guess you need to enclose the composting material with something so that a certain amount of heat is created, but there must be something other than plastic that you can use.

I'm here to learn about composting, too, and find these threads highly educational. Good question.

This is beyond my college chemistry of so many years ago. We all know that plastic will hold heat, the blacker the hotter; its impermeable to water and creates condensation, too. It will degrade over time; in fact there are bags created from corn or are otherwise chemically manipulated to degrade in the presence of oxygen.

I've seen other standing compost bins that are not lined and in-ground bins that are simply covered with a board to keep critters out. I don't think the plastic is mandatory.

Somebody else?

woody with a view - 6-23-2012 at 11:06 AM

agreed. i don't think you need it. they prolly use it to keep in heat and the dirt/sand so it doesn't sift right through the greenery and out the big holes in the wire.

Marc - 6-23-2012 at 12:37 PM

I think this is going to be a hard sell anywhere in Mexico.

DavidE - 6-23-2012 at 01:18 PM

A lot of chatarra is going to Monclova Coahuila, to SICARTSA.

Chatarra is steel scrap
Monclova is a city
SICARTSA is one of two steel mills in México. The other is in Lazaro Card##as, Michoacan. It's name is LAS TRUCHAS

Hope this helps

BajaBlanca - 6-23-2012 at 05:46 PM

interesting post about the plastic used and her comment was that her bag will last for a whole year ... one plastic bg for a whole year is pretty darn good. that being said - she also said that ANY container could be used, as long as it had good ventilation.

I have disconvered something oh so interesting. most of my neighbors collect ALL their scraps and once a day a family member will come by and pick up the scraps for the piggies. I am so happy - I gave a huge bag filled to the brim to one of the students who came for lunch today.

Mulegena, that link was interesting. the worlshop presenter had to remind me that knapkins could go in - I don't tend to think of the as organic but they are ....

and a whole other group burys their trash and I am not sure how good an idea this is ???? In other words, they don't make the HOT COMPOST but just bury the trash in the sand. Any ideas on this ?

Comida por los cochis

Mulegena - 6-23-2012 at 10:31 PM

Food for the piggies

That's an easy way to rid one's kitchen of scraps, but what do the pig ranchers do with the by-product, i.e. piggiepoop?

I've read it can be hot composted and used for any kind of gardening-- this is true of all animal waste-- collect it and hot compost it for 6 weeks or so and use it. The exception is cat feces which possibly may contain an organism called toxoplasmosis that is resistant to heat and may not be inactivated.

Are the locals using the animal and chicken waste?

BajaBlanca - 6-24-2012 at 10:18 AM

I will ask, I have no idea what they do with the animal poop. I can ask.

Eli - 6-25-2012 at 08:08 AM

Love the trashy tread, lots of good information, thanks Blanca!

mulegemichael - 6-25-2012 at 08:20 AM

all of our compost, that's everything but meat scraps, we blend up in a slurry in a big blender by just adding a little water and pour it directly on the plants....they just gobble it up!!...like plants on steroids.....that's all of our veggie scraps, banana peels, orange peels, coffee grounds etc....a very neat way to compost without having a hole outside filled with rotting stuff....much easier to compost up north as the "product" doesn't attract as many nuisances so is easier to control..

Mulegena - 6-25-2012 at 08:28 AM

I love that idea, MulegeMichael.
Its so simple, but I gotta ask if you've done that down here in Baja.
No matter how clean we are, even in a home without much moist greenery around it, we get big-a@@ honkin' bugs. There's a huge bunch of 'em in the hot, humid summer months, alot more than in winter. They always manage to find their way indoors-- this has given me many creepy experiences. I've had to keep the dog and cat food in the refrigerator-- those ba#t@%DS carry them off-- the food, not the dog!

My concern about putting a plant slurry directly on plants is the "Open House" invitation that might be part 'n parcel.

BajaBlanca - 6-25-2012 at 11:24 AM

directly on the plants .... mulegemichael - what a neat idea .... and you do this in Mulege ????

QUESTION: do you have a mega heavy duty blender ???? I am sure mine will not deal with banana peels.

Mexitron - 6-25-2012 at 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mulegena
http://madbioneer.blogspot.mx/2009/03/what-to-compost.html

Above is the link written by The Mad Bioneer, "MAD BIONEER
SCIENTISTS STUDY THE WORLD TO GATHER KNOWLEDGE. ENGINEERS UTILIZE THIS KNOWLEDGE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. THIS BLOG IS ABOUT USING BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TO ENGINEER BETTER GARDENS, MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEMS, TASTIER FOODS, AND, WELL, ANYTHING ELSE I CAN THINK OF."

This is a wonderfully candid and simple explanation of what to throw in and how to toss it. I resurrected Blanca's original thread as this pertains to the generic introduction that she initiated and has been discussed on various threads this week.

Enjoy.

Good primer on composting!

Mexitron - 6-25-2012 at 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBlanca
interesting post about the plastic used and her comment was that her bag will last for a whole year ... one plastic bg for a whole year is pretty darn good. that being said - she also said that ANY container could be used, as long as it had good ventilation.

I have disconvered something oh so interesting. most of my neighbors collect ALL their scraps and once a day a family member will come by and pick up the scraps for the piggies. I am so happy - I gave a huge bag filled to the brim to one of the students who came for lunch today.

Mulegena, that link was interesting. the worlshop presenter had to remind me that knapkins could go in - I don't tend to think of the as organic but they are ....

and a whole other group burys their trash and I am not sure how good an idea this is ???? In other words, they don't make the HOT COMPOST but just bury the trash in the sand. Any ideas on this ?

Soil organisms/bacteria will eat that stuff up and create good results as long as its not buried so deep as to attract anaerobic bacteria, which will create, among other things, methane. Also wouldn't want to put huge amounts into the ground in one spot.

My old friend the citrus farmer was horrified to find that his worker had changed the motor oil in the tractor and just dumped the old oil in the road near one of the trees. He watched that tree for months to check for damage. After a year the tree was the greenest in the orchard---the soil bacteria had digested the oil (it is organic---full of carbon!) and created fertilizer. Not that I would use motor oil in the compost bin- there are nasty byproducts of combustion in there as well but it does show that the soil is a very robust living thing with millions of bacteria per cubic centimeter.

BajaBlanca - 6-26-2012 at 09:02 AM

the greenest in the orchard ! good story Mexitron.

also, good to know not to pput too much organic matter in one spot.