Plastic Recycling in the Dominican Republic
Ydwer Oostenveld Hugo Pijl Sybrand van der Molen Floris Witteveen
Table of contents 1.
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3. 4. 5.
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 1.1 The Problem (Assignment) …………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 1.2 Working Plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 1.3 Get the picture……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Subquestions: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12 2.1 How do the Netherlands technically recycle plastic?........................................................ 13 2.2 From which similar projects can we learn? ………………………………………………………………….. 15 2.3 How is the (plastic) waste system in the Netherlands managed? ………………………………… 17 2.4 What is the actual problem in the Dominican Republic, how big is it? ………………………… 20 2.5 Concerning waste management and plastic recycling, what is already happening in the Dominican Republic? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22 2.6 What is the effectivity of the stimulating plastic recycling projects organized in the Netherlands? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23 2.7 What types of plastic can we recycle in the Dominican Republic and what can we create with the recycled plastic?. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24 Our solution……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25 3.1 Business Plan of a small scale plastic recycling company……………………………………………... 26 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35 5.1 Sources………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 37 5.2 Logbooks……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 41 5.3 Mails and Files……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 60
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1. Introduction We, Ydwer Oostenveld, Hugo Pijl, Sybrand van der Molen and Floris Witteveen, started working on this project at the end of VWO 5. We chose this assignment because to us it looked like a great opportunity to combine our PWS with a more internationally oriented assignment. Also, the plastic waste problem can be viewed on from different perspectives: socially, economically and technically. We decided to dive into this opportunity and investigate the problem thoroughly. It has been a pleasure to us to be able to contribute to the improvement of a situation that has such a great impact on the lives of the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic. It has been hard sometimes to gain enough information about the Dominican Republic and its plastic waste problem, because the Dominican Republic is a country very different to the Netherlands and first we did not know enough about its technical possibilities and about the actual extent of the problem. But with the help of Richard Severin, who we would like to thank for his effort, we got access to the significant information we needed to get a correct view of the problem. We would also like to thank Lankhorst to take us through their plastic recycling company and show us how plastic is recycled in the Netherlands. This gave us the idea of what machinery to use in our plastic recycling company. We feel honoured that we have been involved in trying to solve the plastic waste problem for the Dominican Republic, and we hope our ideas will be useful and inspiring for the local population. Sincerely, Ydwer Oostenveld, Floris Witteveen, Sybrand van der Molen and Hugo Pijl
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1.1 The Problem (Assignment) For this research assignment, our contractors are Richard Severin of the KROY Foundation and the Worldschool programme. The ‘question’ we have is: Come up with a cheap, simple and yet as sustainable as possible, mechanic device or system that allows people to recycle various forms of plastic (containers).
The KROY foundation wants the Dominican Republic to develop out of the state it is in now. While some aspects of the Dominican Republic have progressed over the last few years, it is still very clear that there a lot of things that will need to be done to improve the situation. In our case, the aim is to improve the situation regarding waste. Waste is an important aspect of people’s lives. Richard Severin has stated that people in the Dominican Republic don’t handle their waste with care. We were given the assignment to tackle the waste problem, while mainly focusing on the area of plastic. There really are too much pieces of plastic laying around in the streets, and the plastic recycling business is bad. Our assignment was to come up with a solution that tackles this problem. While we were given the goal to think of a mechanical machine that recycles plastic, we chose a different working path. While putting together a working plan for this assignment we found out that the real problem isn’t in the fact that there are not enough resources in the Dominican Republic to recycle plastic, but there is not enough willingness for the population to change their behaviour. We proposed this to our contractor, Richard Severin, and he agreed to our proposal to change the aim of the project to a more social assignment. Worldschool stated that this assignment is a follow-up to a last year’s assignment. We have contacted both Worldschool and Richard Severin of the KROY Foundation in the process of gathering information and both parties stated that there was no such thing known to them. We expected the previous assignment to be available and we were planning on using that as a cross reference for our own project. Because assignment wasn’t there for us, it has been quite hard for us to start working on this project. For a long time, we didn’t really know which way we were heading with our project.
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1.2 Working Plan Main question How can we develop a method or machine to recycle plastic cheaply and sustainably for use in the Dominican Republic? Subquestions 1. How do the Netherlands technically recycle plastic? 2. From which similar projects can we learn? 3. How is the (plastic) waste system in the Netherlands managed? 4. What is the actual problem in the Dominican Republic, how big is it? 5. Concerning waste management and plastic recycling, what is already happening in the Dominican Republic? 6. What is the effectivity of the stimulating plastic recycling projects organized in the Netherlands? 7. What types of plastic can we recycle in the Dominican Republic and what can we create with the recycled plastic?
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1.3 Get the picture We don’t really know a lot about the Dominican Republic. We only know that it is located in the Caribbean, and that it shares an island with Haiti, which is called Hispaniola. We also know that it is a popular holiday destination for people all around the world. We still would like to know more about the climate and the weather (in different regions), and about vegetation, land relief, soil types and natural disasters. Also, we’d like to know more about the economy (prosperity, labor force), infrastructure, living conditions (health care, education), the governmental institution and the culture (religion, history, language).
Fact file (country) Total area: 48670 km2 Land area: 48320 km2 Population: 10.3 million people Population density: 213 people / km2 Population growth: 1.38% /yr Life expectancy: 73.4 years Median age: 24.9 years Language: Spanish Religions: Catholicism GDP per capita: $5746 per year per person Unemployment rate: 13% Drives on the right Labor force: 4.633 million people (44.63% of the whole population) Economically active children: 14.1% Public education spending: 2.221% of GDP Governmental institution: democratic republic Provinces: 31 (excluding Santo Domingo, this is a separate district)
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Figure 1 : Major cities in the Dominican Republic
Figure 2: Municipalities and major roads
Fact file (region) ● The country is divided into three regions: Cibao, Sur and Oriental ● Cibao lies in the northwest of the country, Sur in the southwest, Oriental in the east ● The different regions too are divided into provinces and municipalities ● There are 13 national national parks, spread across the country ● Sur and Oriental are popular holiday destinations ● There is a lot of mining activity in Cibao’s central mountain range Fact file (local) Santo Domingo metropolitan area has nearly 3 million inhabitants. The city is served by two international airports. Santiago is the largest inland city.
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Geographical view of The Dominican Republic Physical geographic characteristics The Dominican Republic is a country that shares its island with Haiti. The Dominican part of the island has six mountain ranges, who each have their very own characteristics. The country has a tropical savannah climate. The northeast of the country has a tropical rainforest climate, because of the rainfall throughout the whole year. However, the southwest part of the country has a hot steppe climate. This is because of the relatively low amounts of rainfall. Throughout the year, temperatures are around 28° and 33̇° Celsius, and at night they do not fall below 20° Celsius. Temperatures below 0° only occur high up in the mountains. During a large part the year, the UV-index is around 11, which is the highest level of UV radiation possible. The country is sometimes has to deal with big tropical storms, which originate in the Atlantic and in the southeast of the Caribbean. During the hurricane season of the Caribbean (from June through November), a lot of hurricanes occur in that specific area. In the Dominican Republic, most of the times the hurricane will only affect just a small part of the country. In the Dominican Republic there is a high chance of earthquakes, because it lies on the Septentrional fault. Four mountain ranges divide the Dominican Republic into northern, eastern and southwestern regions. The main range is the Cordilla Central, which forms the backbone of the country, with smaller, but nonetheless impressive mountain ranges on either side. Northern region The Dominican Republic’s Atlantic Coastal Plain extends between the cities of Monte Cristi and Nagua. The Cordillera Septentrional, farthest from the north, rises from this plain in moderate peaks around 1000 metres high. The densely populated farmland of the Cibao valley lies south of the Cordillera Septentrional. The country’s second-largest city, Santiago, is located in the valley and is its commercial center. East of Santiago, the valley is called the Vega Real, or royal plain, where the land is fertile and suitable for cultivation of crops such as coffee, corn and tobacco. Central region The Cordillera Central dominates the midsection of the Dominican Republic. This mountain range starts west of the capital city, Santo Domingo, and rises northwest to the Haïtian border. The Cordillera Central contains the highest point in the West Indies: Pico Duarte, at 3175 metres In the eastern coastal plain, limestone terraces rise at least 120 metres near the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental. In the western edge of the region lies the San Juan Basin. Southwestern region Here, the Sierra de Neiba towers over de Hoya de Enriquillo, a bare and dusty valley containing the largest lake in the Caribbean islands. Lake Enriquillo, once part of a strait, is filled with saltwater and lies 50 metres below sea level. Crocodiles live in the lake, and flamingos can be found nearby.
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Social geographic characteristics Political dimension The Dominican Republic is a democratic country. Multiple political parties are allowed. The legislative power is exercised by the two chambers. The country is divided into 31 provinces, which too are divided into municipalities. Those municipalities are the second administrative and political layer of the Dominican Republic. Executive power is exercised by the government, just like many democratic European countries. The president is head of state, head of the government and commander in chief of the armed forces. The current president is Danilo Medina from the DLP (Dominican Liberation Party). He promised the people more investments in infrastructure, education and social programs. Legislative power is in the hands of two chambers: Chambers of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies consists of 195 seats: 183 by province, 5 national and 7 overseas. The senate holds 32 senators, who are elected for four year terms. Both the deputies and the senators serve for a four year term. Before 1965, the Dominican Republic was ruled by a very weak government. As a result, the Dominican Civil War (also known as Guerra de Abril) broke out. The uprise was led by DRP-menbers (revolutionary party). The USA was afraid that communists would seize power. Because of that, US troops intervened and occupied the country. They set up a democratic government and the Dominican Republic has been pretty much stable ever since. Demographic dimension Figure 3 shows the population pyramid of the Dominican Republic. The population growth in the Dominican Republic is quite average when compared to other countries. The majority of the population however, is quite young. The median age is around 27.3 years. When you compare this to a western country like the Netherlands, where the median Figure 3: Population pyramid of the Dominican Republic age is 42.1 years, you can really say the population of the Dominican Republic is much younger. Social-cultural dimension The Dominican Republic contains about 10,3 million inhabitants, of which about 10 % live in the capital city: Santo Domingo. Living standards are average, compared to other countries in the world. However, when you take a look at the world rank list, you see that the Dominican Republic is at 98th place considering Human Development. This means there is still a lot to improve. 9
Economic-geographic dimension About 45% of the population uses the Internet and the unemployment rate is 13% of the total labor force. Unemployment amongst young people (aged 15 - 24) is actually higher: 29,4% of the total labor force. The economy has slowly been improving over the last few years, and is highly dependent of the US. Here follows a quotation taken from World Factbook: “The Dominican Republic has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, but in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in telecommunications, tourism, and free trade zones. The economy is highly dependent upon the US, the destination for approximately half of exports. Remittances from the US amount to about 5% of GDP, equivalent to about a third of exports and two-thirds of tourism receipts. The country suffers from marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GDP, while the richest 10% enjoys nearly 40% of GDP. High unemployment and underemployment remains an important long-term challenge. The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) came into force in March 2007, boosting investment and exports and reducing losses to the Asian garment industry. The Dominican Republic's economy rebounded from the global recession in 2010-13, and the fiscal situation is improving. A tax reform package passed in November 2012 and a reduction in government spending helped to narrow the central government budget deficit from 6.6% of GDP in 2012 to below 3% in 2013. A successful government bond placement in 2013 helped finance the deficit.�
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Political situation: Fragile states We marked the Dominican Republic for different areas on a scale from 0 - 10, with 0 being low and 10 being high. Overall Failed States Index: 6 Human Development Index: 7 Political system Democracy index: 6 Human Rights Amnesty: 5 Political civil rights: 8 Political stability and absence of violence:: 4 Hunger Food supply: 3 Interpretation of internet sources: 4 Refugee situation Interpretation of internet sources: 5 Refugee help: 3 Refugees: 4
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2. Subquestions
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2.1: How do the Netherlands technically recycle plastic? In the Netherlands, plastic is recycled in different ways. Sometimes plastics are separated by a company, sometimes they are separated by citizens (separation at the source). One thing that all the methods of plastic recycling have in common, is that there is always advanced machinery involved, like infrared lasers. 1 Not all kinds of plastic are recycled, actually. In the Netherlands a certain percentage of all plastic waste is burned or dropped in a landfill. From a report of PlasticsEurope, it appears that in 2012, The Netherlands recycled about 34% of its plastic. Compared to other European countries, that is quite a lot. 2 Omrin Omrin is the largest collector of waste in the north of the Netherlands. The company collects the household waste of about 17300 households in Friesland. They also collect other types of waste, like vegetable, fruit and garden waste (VFG). We want to focus on household waste, because this contains a lot of plastic containers. Omrin maintains a post-separation system, which means that a household does not have to sort their waste themselves, but Omrin collects the waste when it contains all different kinds of waste, and sorts it in their separation plant. In an advanced separation plant, plastics are separated from papers and metals. Different types of plastic are also separated by Omrin. First, plastic foils are blown out of the waste by blowers. Next, iniquities are removed from the plastic foils. These foils are directly delivered to the plastic industry. Other foils and hard plastics are then separated by a sieve and two infrared separators. These plastics are transported to and separated in Germany based upon the kind of plastic (PET, PP, etc.) and used as a commodity. Processed plastics are for example used for fleeces, benches and decking. Because Omrin separates plastic from the household waste, people don’t need to do this by themselves and collecting all the waste at once saves time, fuel and money. 3 Plastic heroes Plastic Heroes collects plastic. All over the Netherlands, orange containers of plastic Heroes can be found. Citizens can drop their plastic waste in those containers, so within the Plastic Heroes project, plastic is separated from other types of waste by the citizens themselves. Every once in a while, these plastics are transported to a factory of Plastic Heroes. In a factory, the plastics are first fragmented into smaller pieces. After this, all pieces go into a sieve. Only the plastics of 4 cm and larger, are used for further recycling. The rest is 1
Nedvang PlasticsEurope 3 Omrin 2
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Figure 4: The Plasic Heroes logo
used for regenerating energy. Via different separation methods, comparable to the ones used by Omrin, these plastics are divided into PET, PE, PP and foils. The next thing that happens to the plastics is that they are checked for their quality, and finally the individual monostreams are pressed together into large bales. This information comes from the Plastic Heroes team. 4 Lankhorst Lankhorst manufactures products from recycled plastic. They produce plastic poles and plastic boards, but also complete plastic sheet piling, piers, cladding, bridges and ramps from recycling materials. We have visited them to learn more about what recycled plastic can be used for. 5 Recycling overall Compared to most other countries, plastic recycling in the Netherlands is very advanced. The plastic recycling industry is well established and uses cutting edge technologies. Overall awareness of waste management is fairly high, although the gap with the best plastic recycling countries, namely Japan and the Scandinavian countries, the gap is wide. Much of the recycled plastic comes from heavy industry, which has large amounts of plastic waste that are relatively easily separated and cleaned.
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e-mail from Plastic Heroes Lankhorst
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2.2: From which similar projects can we learn? Cash the Trash started in January 2012, as a private idea of Lucie Pecinkova from the Czech Republic. She approached the Woman Environment Preservation Commitee (WEPCO) to help her organize the project. The aim of the project was to offer a better solution for waste treatment than simple disposal and to enhance economic activity in the region by creating several jobs, both within the plant and in the accompanying activities, and by increasing the revenue from plastic waste in Nepal. The project was focused on the cities Lalitpur and Kathmandu.6 Just like the Dominican Republic, Nepal is a developing country, and, even more important, Nepal has also got big problems with waste management (although it is improving a bit by Cash the Trash, there is still a lot to be done). Waste is lying everywhere on the streets, it is stinky and people were disturbed by all the (plastic) waste. In Nepal, people are actually aware of the piles of trash lying on the streets in every small town, and they are disturbed by it. However, people in Nepal are not aware of the fact that Figure 5: Logo of Cash the Trash there are differences between the various types of waste they are throwing on the streets. We think that we will first need to teach Dominican society that there are different types of waste, and that you cannot just throw everything on the streets. We need to make people aware, because only when people actually know what they are doing, they can change something. The first idea of Cash the Trash was to focus only on recycling plastic waste. However, when further research was done, Lucie Pecinkova and WEPCO soon found out that they had to change their focus from only plastic. A reason for this is that the urban household waste nowadays contains 60-70% organic materials, the remaining 30-40% is non-organic (plastic, fabric, paper, etc). If plastic is to be recycled, it first has to be separated from all the other waste littering on the streets. Organic waste, for example, can be used for compost. We think that this is something we can learn from, because when we want to recycle the plastic, we automatically need to find a solution for the other waste that is dumped on the streets. We need to find efficient methods to for example clean and separate all of the different plastics. This will probably also result in a better quality of the plastics, so that they can be recycled more efficiently. Another thing we can learn from, is that societies do not change very easily. Nepal, for example, still handles the cast system, which officially has been abolished. People from higher castes are of a higher social status. They don’t want to get involved with waste, because they think this is dirty and impure. The government, for example, does not want to get involved with waste and so they don’t want to think of a system for solid waste management. We really need to find out what the Dominican society is like, and how we can anticipate on that. When we look at the technical aspect, we need to find out about the possibilities in the Dominican Republic. In Kathmandu in Nepal for example, there is no electricity during the entire day, but only 6
Cash the Trash | Lucie Pecinkova
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just during a part of the day. We think we will have to figure out what is technically possible in the Dominican Republic when we talk about machinery. The last thing we can learn from when we look at Cash the Trash, is that we need to go into the organization of collecting the trash. In Nepal, for example, municipalities collect the waste and transport it to the landfill, but also non-governmental organizations deal with collecting waste. We really need to focus on the different parties involved in the waste process. 7 In short, what we can conclude is that while developing a (plastic) waste management system, we have to look at not only sufficient methods for recycling plastic, but also at the technical and political possibilities of a country, and what needs to be done before a plastic container can be recycled. What we must into take in account when developing a waste management system and mechanic device - Look at the technical possibilities of a country (when is electricity available?) - Develop a process in which different kinds of waste are separated, and in the end the plastic is recycled and eventually processed. Look at what needs to be done before a plastic container can be recycled. - Find out which parties are already involved in collecting waste, and what exactly the problems is (is it the indifferent government, do people in general lack knowledge about waste?) WEPCO WEPCO (Women Environmental Preservation Committee) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, established in 1992 by a group of Nepali women. The aim of this initiative is to improve the conditions of the local environment and to preserve it in good shape. WEPCO is in charge of collection and management of the waste from households in Kupondol area ward number 1, Lalitpur. Currently, WEPCO has a contract with 1866 families to collect their waste. From these households the waste pickers collect around 6,5 tons of garbage a day. Contrary to other local organizations working in waste management, WEPCO uses innovative and eco-friendly technology to deal with the waste. After collection, the waste is separated into recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Organic waste is used for the production of biogas and compost. Paper material is recycled into various kinds of paper Figure 6: Logo of WEPCO Nepal products. 8
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Cash the Trash | Lucie Pecinkova Wepco Nepal
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2.3: How is the (plastic) waste system in the Netherlands managed? The Dutch government wants to prevent garbage as much as possible. Their aim is to reduce garbage as much as possible. The remaining garbage should be recycled. At this point, 10 million tons of garbage is burned or dumped in landfills. In 10 years this amount should at least be halved. The government’s main policy is described in the “Landelijk afvalbeheerplan (LAP)” (Nationwide garbage managing program). In this document information about treating unrefined oil, asbestos and old electronic devices is given. There are over 100 types of waste dealt with in the LAP. In it is also information about the way plastic waste has to be treated. The LAP is renewed every six years and the current one is running from 2009 until 2015. 9 The prefered way of treating waste like plastic is called “Afvalhiërarchie”, loosely translated this means “hierarchy of garbage”. It is a way to reduce and reuse garbage in a responsible manner. The process goes as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Prevent or limit waste Prepare waste for reusing Recycling of the waste (in a useful manner) Use the waste for other useful appliances, like turning it into energy or filling mines and quarries 5. Removing safely (burning of the remaining waste where the main goal is to reduce toxic waste, not to turn waste into energy)
The process is followed for every single product in that specific order. This way, the impact of the waste produced together is reduced to a bare minimum. The government of the Netherlands wants to promote the recycling of garbage even more though. The goal is to have as much as 75% of the garbage consumers and some companies (which includes offices and shops) generate separated in 2020. The separation of waste has effect on the amount of garbage that will be recycled. “Van Afval Naar Grondstof” A programme that the government of Dutch government is involved with is the programme “Van Afval Naar Grondstof” (turning waste into raw materials). This initiative has been brought up by the ministry regarding infrastructure and environment, and is a priority in 2014 and 2015. The programme is built up out of 8 different goals and focuses on the recycling of different kinds of waste. The government for example wants to reduce Figure 7: Scheme of the “Van Afval Naar Grondstof” programme 9
Rijksoverheid
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the amount of garbage in landfills. They also want to stimulate companies to manufacture their products in such a way that they’re easy to recycle. This is in accordance with the hierarchy of garbage described before. These are the eight goals: 1. Making the front of the chain more sustainable - Products will need to be designed with in a sustainable way. This means that the product needs to be able to be recycled easily at the end of its lifetime. 2. Making the habits of consumers more sustainable - Consumers will be stimulated to change their views to live in a more sustainable manner. When choosing between products, consumers will be stimulated to choose the more sustainable alternative. 3. Improving on the separating and collecting of waste - The amount of waste remaining at burning installations will need to be cut down. Households will be stimulated to separate their garbage as well as companies. The municipalities will be facilitating in this particular process. 4. Turning existing garbage policy towards a circular economy - Existing laws which hamper the reusing of raw materials need to be changed. Innovation will also need to be stimulated by changing certain laws regarding this subject. 5. Changing the approach of specific chains and garbage streams - It is important to stimulate certain chains and streams like plastics. The specific approach is very effective and will stimulate different kinds of processes to become more sustainable. 6. Developing financial and other market incentives - Promotion of new business models that are focused on manufacturing a more sustainable product, as well as stimulating the spread of new innovative solutions. 7. Connecting knowledge and education to a circular economy - Government, companies and knowledge institutes will work together to tackle the problem. The government wants to turn the Netherlands into one of the pioneers in the field of garbage handling. 8. Simplifying methods of measure, indicators and certification marks - The methods to measure the degree of sustainability have to be simplified. Next to this, for the consumer it should be made clearer how to handle trash by using simpler indicators and certification marks on future products. The companies producing plastic and importing products with plastic are responsible for collecting all kinds of products. The producing companies and the companies that are importing these kinds of product pay a contribution for the garbage they are 'selling' to their customers. This money goes towards a special fund which is called 'Afvalfonds Verpakkingen'. This fund finances the collection of the separate kinds of plastic. It also invests in promotion for the separation of plastic from other waste. The companies who put more than 50,000 kgs of packaging in the Dutch market have to pay these kind of contributions.
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Plastic Heroes The campaign ‘Plastic Heroes’ is a campaign launched in 2009 by the ‘Nedvang’ foundation. It is an initiative from the packaging industry. The foundation aims to make people conscious of their behaviour. In order to achieve that, they set up a broad media campaign. - The organisation launched TV-commercials featuring Dutch celebrities. - Billboards were placed in city centers and along the roads. - A very recognizable orange man was introduced as mascot. - A cheerful website with many visual effects was launched, explaining what, how, where and why you should separate plastic waste from other waste. - Orange containers with the recognizable logo’s were placed all across the country. People can dump their plastic waste in those containers. The campaign should stimulate the people to separate plastic waste from ‘normal waste’. Just like an other campaign with a similar goal, ‘Nederland Schoon’ (Netherlands Clean), the organisation asks help from the public to achieve their goal. The difference between these two campaigns is that ‘Nederland Schoon’ focuses on waste in general on the streets, ‘Plastic Heroes’ focuses on plastic in particular. The campaign started in 2009, but in the years following 2009 publicity for the project was very limited. In 2013, the ‘Plastic Heroes’ project got new media attention with new TV-commercials, plastic containers and billboards. 10 Apart from the plastic waste system and campaign described above, there is also a system to collect PET-bottles for recycling purposes. When people buy a drink bottled in a PET-bottle, they pay a little bit extra. The customer can get this back by handing in the bottles in the supermarkets. This method is applied in all major supermarkets across the country.
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Plastic Heroes
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2.4: What is the actual problem in the Dominican Republic, how big is it?
The question about how big the problem in the Dominican Republic is regarding (plastic) waste is a difficult one. It is regarded a fact however, that there really is a problem. Lots of waste can be found in the streets of the Dominican Republic. Not only the streets are polluted with waste, but there is also a lot of plastic in the sea. The entire country is surrounded by water, with beautiful pieces of nature all across the country. It is important to keep it like this, because some parts of the Dominican Republic are threatened to be destroyed. In a documentary broadcasted by Vice 11, a lake in the west of the Dominican Republic (Lake Enriquillo) is shown. This is the largest Lake in the Caribbean. The lake has been growing rapidly over the last few years. This may sound good, but it’s not good news for the inhabitants. Where once was a colourful and fertile lake, there is now a very big and polluted lake which caused people to be homeless. The reason all of this is disputable, but it’s thought to be due to human influences. There is not a lot of involvement from the government, to improve this situation. It is for certain that a many people have lost their homes because the growing lake has demolished their homes. People logging trees (illegally) make this process even worse. The trees which previously used water from the lake do not do this anymore, so a lot of water goes unused, while the same amount of rain will keep falling. The people who log the trees use the wood of the trees to sell on the black market. Because people can’t practice agriculture anymore, their land has flooded, this is their main source of income. This may not directly be about the waste problem in the Dominican Republic, but it does go to show that there is a lack of understanding of the bad situation going on in the country on the level of its inhabitants.. It is of paramount importance that people need to change their behaviour. People in all parts of the world care mostly about their own well being. With this they don’t always take into account what effects this may have on their surrounding. This also extends to the waste problem. People may be willing to change their stances, but it will be necessary to make a nationwide effort. Waste in the Dominican Republic In most of the Dominican Republic, the amount of waste lies between 0.5 and 0.8 kilograms produced on an average day per person. This comes down to 7.200 tons of waste per day. In the city of Santa Domingo the problem of waste is the largest. As much as 1.2 kilograms of waste is produced on average per person there. Of course, you have to note that the problem is larger among wealthier communities. People with less money can buy less products that will turn into waste later on. The countrywide average is around the same as other Latin American nations, which is 0.7 kilos per person per day. This may sound good, but if you look at the fact that there are almost four hundred open landfills in the Dominican Republic it becomes clear that the problem is quite large. 12
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Vice Listin Diario | Juan Eduardo Thomas
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The problem with the landfill reaches even further than only being an ecological disaster. Because the dumpsites are filled with water it becomes very hard to get rid of them. This influences people as well. Not only the people living in the Dominican Republic, who are prone to all kinds of hazardous substances dumped in the landfills, but also tourism is influenced by this. Due to the fact that the sight of these landfills is an eyesore as well, there is a good change tourists stay away 13 The question remains who will have to take measures to resolve this problem. Will the government need to educate people to be very sensible when it comes to the subject of waste disposal? Or, will it have to be the system of collecting and processing waste that needs to be improved upon? One of the roots of these problems is the fact that the Dominican Republic is a (semi-)periphery country, which means that the country is not as developed as countries like the US, UK or the Netherlands. Living standards are medium, unemployment is relatively high. Although the economy is growing, growth is at the expense of nature. Also, the governments misses out on tax income because many of transactions are unrecorded: the country has a significant informal economy. All this results in a limited budget for the Dominican government to set up an advanced system of waste distribution, it is not surprising that the government rather spends money on food, housing, health care etcetera than on waste. People have to live in the first place. But this does not mean that the (plastic) waste problem isn’t an issue to tackle.
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Dominican Republic Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Environment
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2.5: Concerning waste management and plastic recycling, what is already happening in the Dominican Republic? The situation in the Dominican Republic can be compared with other, neighbouring or comparable countries, to see how big the problem is and if there are things to take into account to improve the situation. Current waste management Because there is a security of market, hundreds of Dominicans are involved in the purchase and sale of waste, especially metals, paper, plastic, cardboard and glass. According to the Centre of export and investments of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD) in 2010 the Dominican Republic has exported waste to 44 countries, mostly to Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Puerto Rico.14 On a landfill in Duquesa, waste materials are bought by people or companies who sell them themselves. 15 Various companies have set up projects with the aim to recycle plastic more (especially PET), mainly in schools. Generally, people appear to be willing to collect plastic, mainly along the river. Only the private sector still needs to be encouraged. 16 The real problem of the waste management in the Dominican Republic lies with the corporate services in the Dominican Republic. There is little or no steadfastness. So there is a lack of management. The technical possibilities are definitely there, only the management needs to improved. 17 We obviously can’t change the mentality of the private sector in the Dominican Republic. This is a process which needs to take place very slowly. What we can do is to set up our own business which allows people to collect plastic. We see an opportunity in this, because it’s the inhabitants of Dominican Republic who are suffering from the litter on a daily basis. Surely they are willing to collect plastic.
14
Diario Libre (2011) Diario Libre | Nikaury Arias (2014) 16 Diario Libre | Yvonny Alcántara (2014) 17 Listin Diario | Juan Eduardo Thomas (2012) 15
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2.6: What is the actual result of the stimulating plastic recycling projects organized in the Netherlands? Earlier on we did some research about the different projects that are ran in the Netherlands, to stimulate and get people to treat their waste in a thoughtful manner. The Dutch system is based upon the model where both the customer and the companies are either stimulated or obligated to take some measures in the prevention of waste. Taxes were introduced for companies, to make them use their resources more ecologically and responsibly. Dutch consumers are mainly stimulated by voluntary projects and are not really taxed on their amount of waste. Due to this, it could be possible that Dutch consumers don’t handle their waste with care. For this the system of “statiegeld” is invented. “Statiegeld” or container deposit, means that an extra sum of money is added to the price of a product. Consumers can get this money back by returning their (plastic) containers. This way, the plastic containers are brought back to be recycled. When asked, 70 percent of Dutch consumers think of container deposit as a useful measure that shouldn’t be removed as a system. 18 People think it helps everyone to understand that the bottles they buy can be recycled and used again. Other projects like Plastic Heroes and the willingness of Dutch consumers to change their garbage disposal behaviour have helped the Netherlands to recycle a lot of consumers’ waste. According to Nedvang, the Dutch organization that is responsible to take care of the recollection of packaging almost half of the Dutch citizens offer their plastic waste separated from the regular trash. This goes to show that there is quite a high level of awareness under the Dutch citizens when it comes to how they handle their waste. 19 Projects such as Plastic Heroes and the process of container deposit have helped to raise this level of awareness. We can take a look at these measures and see if they are suitable for usage in the Dominican Republic.
18 19
Stichting Ons Statiegeld Nedvang
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2.7: What types of plastic can we recycle in the Dominican Republic and what can we create with the recycled plastic? Plastics are divided into seven categories, not all of which can be recycled. Polystyrene, for example, is due to its low density very costly to recycle. Since it can be burned safely and cleanly in an energy plant, there is relatively little incentive to recycle polystyrene. PVC, on the other hand, releases toxic fumes when burned or left to decay. It is important that PVC is recycled, but doing this requires extensive knowledge and it is a large and complicated process. For small scale plastic recyclers, this is not a viable option. PET, the type of plastic that many soda bottles are made of, is one of the most commonly recycled plastics due to it’s versatility and high density. Products made from PET are usually fairly fine, like fabrics or window paneling. This makes recycling PET on a small scale, although possible, rather difficult. For determining which plastics are most usable for recycling, we asked the advice of an expert during our visit to Lankhorst. With his help, we came to the conclusion that the most viable option would be to recycle high-density polyethylene. HDPE can easily be made into plastic lumber, and mixed it in with smaller amounts of other plastics, such as PP, LDPE and various other plastics for extra strength and flexibility. Plastic lumber is easy to make, because it can be made directly from injecting the plastic into a mould from an extruder. Plastic lumber is a strong and durable building material, which does not rot when it is in water, making it suitable for building small bridges and retaining walls. The production of this material can greatly help Dominican infrastructure.
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3. Our solution The problem has appeared to be way more complicated than we first thought. Finding a solution for the waste problem in the Dominican Republic, is almost impossible. It will take a process of years before there is a working system and a proper management of (household) waste. The real problem lies with the management. There is no machinery that needs to be developed, there should be a kind of schedule which allows the management to be strict and the trash to be picked up regularly. We think that the reason why people throw their waste on the streets, is because it is not picked up. They know that they shouldn’t throw it on the streets, but what else can they do? When we compare our research to the project of Cash the Trash, we can conclude that it will be easier in the Dominican Repulblic to recycle plastic, because people really have the will to care for their envrionment, and there is definitely no taboo on waste. The government also has its priorities. The Dominican Republic is a (semi-)periphery country, which means that the country has a limited budget to spend. The Dominican government has limited resources to set up an advanced system of waste distribution, it is not surprising that the government rather spends money on food, housing e.d. than on plastic. People have to survive in the first place. But this does not mean that the (plastic) waste problem isn’t an issue to tackle. We think that setting up small companies in which people in the Dominican Republic can recycle plastic locally will be the best solution to deal with the plastic problem. A large scale company funded by the government will be too expensive. Local companies will be more efficient in tackling the plastic waste problem than a nationwide effort, because the problems are local. In this way, people can work together in small companies to try to solve the problem themselves. We are making a draft for a business plan that will be a pilot for one of these companies. Apart from the local plastic recycling businesses, we also have recommendations to the government. We propose a system, in which the people pay a deposit for their PE and PET bottles. When shops purchase their goods, they pay an extra amount of 5 Dominican peso. After consuming the product, people can bring it back to a local plastic recycler to get their money back. This will encourage people to return their plastics, because it has become valuable. After introducing this new system, if people were to be throwing their plastics on the street, as is happening right now, they’re now going to waste their own money.
Figure 8: Scheme of proposed system
In the following chapter we have worked on a business plan that is like a blueprint for a local plastic recycling company. We have done extensive research on our subquestions, but it was not the goal of our project to come up with a business plan. However, while researching we found out that this seems a very good way to reduce the plastic problem. 25
3.1 Business Plan of a small scale plastic recycling company (The business plan has a different numbering from the rest of the project)
Contents of the business plan 1. The goal of our company 1.1 Mission 1.2 Strategy 1.3 Keys to success 2. The situation 3. The product 3.1 Possible end products 3.2 Market 4. Financial data 4.1 Business model 4.2 Start-up expenses 5. The team 6. The process of filtering out HDPE
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1 Goal of our company 1.1 Mission The goal of our small company is to develop a method of recycling that can be applied to similar kinds of companies in the Dominican Republic. We want to encourage local activity of recycling plastic. A campaign should change people’s stances on their disposal of waste and in particular plastic. This can be achieved by using billboard, newspaper ads, internet and TV. This all because of the huge problem that at the moment persists in the Dominican Republic regarding (plastic) waste. The local companies should collect the waste, in cooperation with the locals, and make new products to sell and the company aims to break-even. We want to make it possible for people to cheaply and easily recycle their own (plastic) waste. This should be done in an as local way as possible, so people are able to work on the process themselves. There are already companies that are focused towards the recycling of plastic and other waste in the Dominican Republic. These companies are taking care of the recycling of commercial waste. The waste that lies out and about in the streets of the Dominican Republic won’t just go to a recycling plant by itself. There has to be initiative for it to be picked up. We want the company (companies) to work with local inhabitants to create small scale projects of garbage recycling.
1.2 Strategy As mentioned earlier, we want to set up a system of container deposit. The strategy of the company corresponds to the national policy we have in mind. When (local) shops buy stock from producing companies, they pay a certain amount for bottles. When the bottles are sold to customers, the fee will be covered by the customers, who pay the same amount of fee. The figure on the right shows how the money flows. After consuming the products packed in bottles, the people can get the deposit back. In order to achieve this, they have to take the bottles to a nearby recycling company. At the recycling centre the customer gets back the fee they paid. This stimulates the people to take their bottles, together with other plastics, to a plastic gathering point or a recycling company nearby. The plastic gathered at Figure 9: Scheme of deposit system a collection points will be picked up and brought to the recycling company by truck. Returning the bottles to the shops to redeem their extra paid deposit will not contribute to solution of cleaning the streets (and keeping the streets clean).
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It is of the utmost importance that the flow of both bottles and container deposit goes smoothly. In addition, fraud might be a possible danger to the system. Staff of the recycling companies could report that they received more bottles than they actually got, to get a higher pay from producing companies. In order to prevent it, the producing companies should be inspecting regularly. This could be done by registering the amount of plastic going in and out. The inspections and registering process should be done on a governmental level, as we think it is best for this system to be implemented across the entire Dominican Republic.
1.3 Keys to success The most important aspects of our company are the following: ● The business must remain local, we want them to be community based ● We want the plastics used to come from the direct area ● The product quality should be competitive ● The system might be sensitive for fraud. This potential problem should be dealt with by inspection from producing companies.
2 The situation In the current situation, plastic is littering the streets and rivers. There is no real system and there are only industrial recycling companies. The government of the Dominican Republic has little budget to spend on waste management. As a result, people are desperate and there really has to come a system. People don’t know what to do with their waste, so it is just thrown away on the streets, along rivers etc. This creates huge problems for the natural resources people use, as well as the ecosystem of animals and just the entire nature.
3 The product 3.1 Possible end products The products we want to be produced are raw plastic beams, called plastic lumber. From these beams other companies are able to produce products like benches or poles. At the company we visited, Lankhorst, these plastic objects are also produced and can be found throughout the country in for example benches, plastic poles and planks. When sold to the government of the Dominican Republic it can be used to improve infrastructure. 28
Figure 10: Plastic lumber beams
The goal of our company is to make plastic lumber from which benches, poles and fences can be created. It is not our aim to produce these in the recycling factory itself. It is much too complicated and too costly for us to manufacture these products on a local scale. Large companies have the knowhow and the machines to produce these products efficiently.
3.2 Markets The products are used globally, this means the product could be sold anywhere, from Europe to Asia. The different companies in the Dominican should cooperate when selling their products. This way, the prices will be competitive and the scale of production is much larger. Due to the geographical location, the products are most appealing to American and (of course) Dominican manufacturers, because transportation costs are lower. The products could also be sold to the local governments, who could use it to improve the infrastructural situation.
4 Financial data 4.1 Business model Because of the fact that the Dominican Republic doesn’t really have much money available for projects like ours, we want our company to be (for the most part) self-sufficient. We want the companies to be really small scale. There isn’t much money available from the government of the Dominican Republic so these companies will need to make (a small) profit. We want to make certain kinds of new stuff from the recycled plastic like Lankhorst in the Netherlands is doing, locally and on a smaller scale. The products that are formed from the recycled plastic are for example poles and small bridges. The process of the recycling can’t be too complex because of the fact that there is not enough money for high tech technology to be implemented throughout the entire country. We want to have people bring their own waste in our small scale factories. This way, they get a small amount of money for bringing plastic waste. The way our company is going to make money is by selling processed and raw plastics. The plastics we get are being transformed into plastic beams. We want to sell these beams to other companies that will use these beams to manufacture other products from it, such as benches and fences. It is expected that the company is not going to break even in the beginning due to the fact that starting up a business means that there are some investments to be done, like a plastic extruder. This should change after a while though, when production is rising and more plastic is being sold to other companies. The people handling the machinery also get paid. They can have this as their primary job. In the following paragraph we give an indication of start-up expenses. 29
4.2 Start-up expenses The following figures are a blueprint of what a plastic recycling company could look like. Because of the fact that we aren’t really at home when it comes to the Dominican prices these figure may vary from reality. In order to start a business, capital investment is required. We aim to finance our businesses with both crowdfunding and gifts. While our goal isn’t to make profit it is beneficial for our project. This way we can replace machinery when they are depreciated. The business needs employees to fulfill tasks. The following table shows the number of employees and the costs of employees. The numbers are calculated based on Dominican national wages and are only indicative. Employee’s task
Number of employees
Total costs (annually, including tax)
Manager
1
RD$400.000
Machine operator
3
RD$600.000
Administrative employee
1
RD$300.000
Sorting/cleaning employees
4
RD$800.000
Truckdriver
1
RD$250.000 RD$2.350.000
Budget for the first year Numbers are in Dominican Peso Income
Expenses
Sales of raw plastics *
2.500.000
Wages***
2.350.000
Gifts**
1.000.000
Rent building
1.000.000
Loss
2.350.000
Administrative expenses
150.000
Machine expenses****
750.000
Other expenses
700.000
Transport expenses
900.000
5.850.000
5.850.000
*at a price of 50 Dominican Peso per kilogram and 50 tonnes in the first year. Because in the first year, we can never be breaking even, we have calculated a normal tonnage per year is 100 tonnes and a sale income of about RD$5.000.000. ** Gifts include governmental subsidies, subsidies from organizations involved with sustainable projects and private gifts . Gifts are higher in the first year, when our company receives startup funding. *** wages outside the FTZ (free trade zone) and EPZ (export processing zone) are higher. 20 **** Machine expenses are higher in the first year, due to purchase of machines. The fixed costs of the machines are lower.
20
OMLAD
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As you can see in the budgets, the first year we think that we can’t run with a profit yet. The second year we expect there to be a slight profit. We need a large startup investment to cover the loss. Budget for the second year Numbers are in Dominican Peso Income Sales of raw plastics Gifts
Expenses 5.000.000 400.000
Wages
2.350.000
Rent building
1.000.000
Administrative expenses
150.000
Machine expenses
300.000
Other expenses
600.000
Transport expenses
900.000
Profit
100.000
5.400.000
5.400.000
In the second year (and the years following) we expect the numbers to be much better. Because the need for investment in machinery in the second year isn’t there anymore, these costs are much lower in the second year.
5. The team We want to make it attractive for local residents of villages or neighbourhoods in cities to come and work at the small scale companies. With the money that the selling of recycled plastic makes the employees and equipment can be paid. The unemployment rate in the Dominican Republic is not very low as we have shown in the section “Get the picture”, so there are enough people that are willing to work in such a small scale company. There needs to be a leader on a location, but we need to make it so that there won’t be any chance that they will make abuse of power.
6. The process of filtering out HDPE We want to use PE to recycle, because it is found a lot in household waste and it is easy to process. It is a thermoplastic, which means that it gets flexible when it is heated, so we can easily put it in a mould to make simple industrial products of it (posts, planks etc). First we had the idea to do an experiment by ourselves, filtering out PE with the use of its properties. But we came to the conclusion that it would be better to create an overview of the properties of all plastics and create a scheme of filtering out PE with the use of these properties, because if we
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would do an experiment on our own, we could only use some simple properties and we could not filter out the PE efficiently enough. We want people to be able to collect all kinds of plastic, so that they don’t need to sort out the right kind of plastic themselves. Plastic household products that aren’t bottles are often made of a mixture of plastics, so they are very hard to filter out. This is the reason why we only want to use plastic bottles. They are mostly made of one kind of plastic and thus easy to filter out. Another argument for only using plastic bottles, is that most bottles (over 96%) are made of PET and HDPE, and it is easy to separate HDPE from PET, because PET sinks in water and HDPE doesn’t. Other bottles are made of PP (2.1%), LDPE (0.83%) or PVC (0.81%). Because PVC sinks in water, this is also easily Figure 11: The logo for separable from HDPE. But LDPE and PP float on water just like HDPE HDPE does. This means it is harder to separate HDPE from these kinds of plastic. However, because only a small percentage of all plastic bottles is made of PP or LDPE, it is not a problem if these are mixed with the HDPE. Our plastic recycling business will require a system consisting of the following processes: 1: Collection system First, the materials that we want to use in the recycling process have to be collected. To increase efficiency, the garbage that is collected should contain as much as possible plastic, so that transport and sorting costs can be reduced. The collected plastic is transported to the recycling facility, where it is stored until it can be used. 2: Sorting system Garbage that has been brought in starts the recycling process in the sorting system. The sorting system has the task of separating the recyclable plastics from other materials and non-recyclable plastics. In this system, all types of recyclable plastic are kept for further processing. 3: Cutting system After sorting, the plastics are cut. This is done so that they can be properly cleaned. The pieces of plastic are still fairly large, but all closed containers are cut open and there are no longer large cavities for dirt or food remains to stay stuck in during the cleaning process. No machines will be needed for this, it can be done by hand. 4: Cleaning system After the plastic has been cut, it is ready to be cleaned. The plastic shards are placed in a pool of water, where the plastic is rinsed of any dirt, food remains and other unwanted bits of garbage. The cleaning installation doubles as a sorting system, here we separate the PVC and PET from the other plastics because we submerge the plastic in a pool of water. The plastics that float are the ones that we want to process further, the PVC and PET that sink will be sold to companies that specialise in recycling these materials.
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5: Shredding system Here, the plastic shards will be further cut up into tiny bits, so that they can be fed into the recycling machinery. this is done by placing to opposite rotary shafts with toothed intermeshing cutter wheels. 6: Agglomerator This machine is used to melt the plastic shreds into pellets. Although it is possible to feed the shreds directly into the extruder, it is better to use an agglomerator. By first turning the plastic into pallets, you greatly reduce the stress placed on the extruder and you can guarantee that the end product is a homogenous blend of the materials used, which prevents structural weak points. 7: Extruder In the extruder the plastic pellets are fed into a screw barrel where they melt due to friction and heating elements. Halfway the barrel there is a small opening through which the gases that were initially dissolved in the plastics such as air and monomer residue, can escape to prevent bubbles from forming. The rotating screw pushes the molten plastic to the end of the barrel, where it is injected into a mould. 8: Mould In this stage of the production process the end product is decided. Depending on what you want to make, different moulds can be used. The moulds consist of two metal parts that are pushed together by clamps. The selected mould is placed directly at the end of the extruder. Once filled, the mould is placed into a cooling bassin. When the plastic has cooled off, the mould is removed and bits of excess plastic from the injection hole are cut off. What remains is a plastic lumber beam, ready to be sold. Due to the relative simplicity of the machines needed, we can produce large quantities of beams for a low price. Workers do not require high education beyond a basic operational training, since the machinery used is easily operated and maintenance is not very complex. The steel moulds are easily swapped or adjusted, allowing for a relatively large variety of end products.
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4. Conclusion When we started this assignment, we had little idea of what was ahead of us. In order to get an idea of the problem, and of possible solutions, we had to formulate subquestions. We wanted to know what the system of the Dominican Republic was lacking, so that we could offer something to improve the situation. During the process of answering the subquestions, we came to the conclusion that the Netherlands has developed a lot in plastic recycling during the last ten years, and are now using all kinds of advanced technology such as infrared. We had to come up with a more simple idea, so we came up with a business plan for a completely new plastic recycling company. It has to start somewhere, so why not with a new company that collects plastic by itself? Our final business plan is available for adjustments. It contains only guidelines, but we believe our ideas will contribute to the economy and environment of the Dominican Republic if it will be further expanded. The business plan can be seen as a blueprint for local recycling companies. Further research should be done before a real company can be set up. Some questions that will require further investigation, are: - The management of the company (How is the plastic collected? How many employees will be needed for operating the machines? Where can citizens drop their plastic waste?) - How and where will the industrial products be sold, what industrial products will be made exactly? - As the company grows, can it be reorganized in such a way that PET and PVC can also be recycled efficiently? The business plan that we have come up with is far from complete, if one wanted to set up a company based on it. However, it can serve as a basis for many local companies and still allow them to draw their own plans. We hope that our efforts will translate into a successful programme that can help inspire local entrepreneurs to start businesses that can, in the economic sense as well as in the ecological sense, eventually lead to a more sustainable environment for people to live in.
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5. Appendix
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When we first started on this project, our working plan looked quite different. Because a lot of time went into researching those questions, we decided to insert the old plan in the appendix. We changed the subquestions because it was too hard to find enough information to answer them.
Old Working plan Main question: How can we develop a method or machine to recycle plastic cheaply and sustainably for use in the Dominican Republic? Technical subquestions 1. Situation in the Netherlands 1.1 Do we recycle plastic in the Netherlands? Y & S 1.2 How do we do that? Y & S 1.3 What do we use recycled plastic for? S 2. Situation in the Dominican Republic 2.1 How technically advanced can the recycling system/machinery be so that it can be used in the Dominican Republic? Y 2.2 What can we use recycled plastic for? Y 2.3 Which local materials can we use to recycle plastic? S 2.4 How can we separate all the plastics from other kinds of waste? S Social/economic subquestions 3. Are there any similar projects we can learn from? Y 4. Situation in the Netherlands 4.1 How is our (plastic) waste system managed? H & F 4.2 What is the economical impact? H 4.3 How is the government involved? F 5. Situation in the Dominican Republic 5.1 How is the government involved with waste management right now? H&F 5.2 Can a waste management system generate employment? F 5.3 How can we educate and employ the people efficiently to control the machinery? H 6. How can we stimulate the locals to dispose their garbage properly? H & F 7. How do we introduce a plastic waste management system in the Dominican Republic, without having to make big investments? H & F
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5.1 Sources Afvalfonds verpakkingen (n.d.) visited on September 23 2014, http://www.afvalfondsverpakkingen.nl The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (2013), 2013 United States national postconsumer plastics bottle recycling report, visited on February 7 2015 http://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Education-Resources/Publications/2013-National-PostConsumer-Plastics-Bottle-Recycling-Report.pdf Ban the bottle (2012), Recycle Symbol, visited on January 7 2015, http://www.banthebottle.net/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/RecycleSymbol_wPlasticBottles.jpg Ban the Bottle (n.d.), About Ban the Bottle, visited on February 3 2015, http://www.banthebottle.net/about/ Caribbean Export (2013), Caribbean Export Facilitates Policy Dialogue on the Renewable Energy and the Waste Management Sectors, visited on December 9 2014, http://www.caribexport.com/caribbean-export-facilitates-policy-dialogue-on-the-renewable-energy-and-the-wastemanagement-sectors/ Cash the Trash | Lucie Pecinkova (n.d.), Front page, visited on September 12th 2014, http://www.cashthetrash.org (this site does not exist anymore) Cervecería Nacional Dominicana (2011), Malta Morena y CEDAF presentan programa de reciclaje 3R’s, visited on December 9 2014, http://www.cnd.com.do/index.php/cgblog/136/Malta-Morena-yCEDAF-presentan-programa-de-reciclaje-3R-s CIA (June 22 2014), The World Factbook Central America And Caribbean: Dominican Republic, visited on June 24 2014, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html Delta | David McMullin (2000), Kunststof scheiden in een golfslagbad, visited on Februari 7 2015, http://delta.tudelft.nl/artikel/kunststof-scheiden-in-een-golfslagbad/3967 Diario Libre (2011), Desechos dominicanos se venden a 44 países, visited on December 14 2014, http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2011/05/26/i292017_desechos-dominicanos-vendenpaises.html Diario Libre | Nikaury Arias (2014), El dispensario médico para vertedero Duquesa estará listo en 15 días, visited on December 14 2014, http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2014/05/26/i625941_dispensario-mdico-para-vertederoduquesa-estar-listo-das.html
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Diario Libre | Yvonny Alcántara (2014), El reciclaje en República Dominicana mueve más de US$100 millones al año, visited on December 14 2014, http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2014/11/17/i885071_reciclaje-mueve-us100.html Domincan Republic Encycolopedic Dictionary of the Environment (n.d.), Pollution, visited on November 11 2014, http://www.diccionariomedioambiente.org/DiccionarioMedioAmbiente_en/en/cpo_contaminacion _bis.asp Dominican Today (2011), Waste system is a chaos in Santo Domingo, visited on November 17 2014, http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2011/10/22/41371/Waste-system-is-a-chaos-in-SantoDomingo Fresna (n.d.), The Categories of Plastics, visited on December 29 2014, http://www.fresno.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4C46B165-2252-45F7-B1FD27C6912E4451/0/TheCategoriesofPlastics.pdf The Fund for Peace (2015), FragileStatesIndex, visited on June 24 2014, http://ffp.statesindex.org/ Grumpiornot (2012), How to Identify Different Types of Plastic, visited on February 7 2015, http://grumpiornot.hubpages.com/hub/How-plastic-is-really-recycled Guzmàn Ariza (2011), An Overview on Dominican Tax Law, visited on February 3 2015, http://www.drlawyer.com/practiceareas/dominican-tax-attorney.html ILO Newsroom (2011), The banana agribusiness in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica: rich ground to create green jobs, visited on November 17 2014, http://www.ilo.org/global/about-theilo/newsroom/features/WCMS_163464/lang--en/index.htm Image of plastic lumber: Wikimedia | MADERPLASTIC S.A.S. (2010), Perfiles Madera Plástica.jpg, visited on February 7 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perfiles_Madera_Pl%C3%A1stica.jpg JICA (2014), First Regional Seminar on "Culture of the 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", visited on December 9 2014, http://www.jica.go.jp/jamaica/english/office/topics/140313.html Kennislink | Bruno van Wayenburg (2005), Plastic afval scheiden met een magneet, visited on February 7 2015, http://www.kennislink.nl/publicaties/plastic-afval-scheiden-met-een-magneet Klimaatinfo (n.d.), Dominicaanse Republiek, visited on June 24 2014, http://www.klimaatinfo.nl/dominicaanse-republiek/ Kunststof hergebruik (n.d.), visited on September 23 2014, http://www.kunststofhergebruik.nl
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Listin Diario | Juan Eduardo Thomas (2012), Disposici贸n final de la basura debe mejorarse, visited on December 9 2014, http://listindiario.com/la-republica/2012/2/13/221571/Disposicion-final-de-labasura-debe-mejorarse Nedvang (2015), Inzameling & Recycling, visited on January 2 2015, http://www.nedvang.nl/feitenen-cijfers Nedvang (2015), Front page, visited on October 18 2014, http://www.nedvang.nl/ OMLAD (2013), El Comit茅 Nacional de Salarios, visited on February 3 2015, http://www.omlad.gob.do/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=DNSpavBkxDU%3d&tabid=97 Omrin (n.d.), Wat doen we: inzameling, visited on October 19 2014, http://www.omrin.nl/Over_Omrin/Wat_doen_we/Inzameling.aspx Plastic Heroes (n.d.), visited on September 23 2014, http://www.plasticheroes.nl Plasticker (January 2015), Market Report Plastics, visited on February 3 2015, http://plasticker.de/preise/marktbericht2_en.php?j=15&mt=1&quelle=bvse Plasticsrecycling.info (n.d.), Get Recycling, visited on February 7 2015 http://www.plasticsrecycling.info/ Polystar (2013), Waste plastic recycling machine operating in Dominican Republic, visited on November 20 2014, http://www.polystarco.com/fr/news_i_N2013112600003.html Practical Action (2009), Recycling Plastics: Starting a Business, visited on January 12 2015, http://answers.practicalaction.org/our-resources/item/recycling-plastics-starting-a-business (this file was sent to us by Richard Severin) Recoup (2013), What about non-bottle household plastics?, visited on February 7 2015 http://www.recoup.org/p/29/what-about-non-bottle-household-plastics Report of Cash the Trash by Lucie Pecinkova, Czech Republic, received by e-mail on September 12 2014 pecinkova.I@gmail.com (see 5.3 Mails and Files) Rijksoverheid (n.d.), Afval, visited on September 23 2014, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/afval Rijksoverheid (2011), Atsma geeft startsein voor inzameling plastic buitenshuis, visited on October 8 2014, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2011/04/26/atsma-geeft-startsein-voor-inzamelingplastic-buitenshuis.html Rijksoverheid (5 October 2011), Hergebruik verpakkingen overtreft ruim de doelstellingen, Gezamenlijk persbericht ministerie Infrastructuur & Milieu, Nedvang en VNG, visited on January 2 2015, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2011/10/05/hergebruik-verpakkingen-overtreft-ruim-dedoelstellingen.html
39
Rijksoverheid (2014), Kamerbrief invulling programma Van Afval Naar Grondstof, visited on October 7 2014, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/afval/documenten-enpublicaties/kamerstukken/2014/01/28/invulling-programma-van-afval-naar-grondstof.html Rijksoverheid (2014), Mansveld wil hoeveelheid afval halveren, visited on October 7 2014, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2014/01/28/mansveld-wil-hoeveelheid-afval-halveren.html Rijksoverheid (20 June 2013), Van Afval Naar Grondstof, visited on January 7 2015 http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/bestanden/documenten-enpublicaties/kamerstukken/2013/06/20/van-afval-naar-grondstof/van-afval-naar-grondstof.pdf Rijksoverheid (2014), Van Afval Naar Grondstof - Uitwerking van 8 operationele doelstellingen, visited on October 7 2014, http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/afval/documenten-enpublicaties/rapporten/2014/01/28/van-afval-naar-grondstof-uitwerking-van-acht-operationeledoelstellingen.html Rova (2014), Illustratie, visited on January 7 2015 http://www.rova.nl/client/rova/upload/AROM%20nieuwsbrief/maart%202014/illustratie%20uit%20 programma%20VANG.jpg Stichting Ons Statiegeld (2015), Milieu-impact: Bewustzijn, visited on January 2 2014, http://www.echteheld.nl/milieu-impact/335/bewustzijn The Fund for Peace (2015), FragileStatesIndex, visited on June 24 2014, http://ffp.statesindex.org/ Klimaatinfo (n.d.), Dominicaanse Republiek, visited on June 24 2014, http://www.klimaatinfo.nl/dominicaanse-republiek/ Vice (2014), The Lake That Burned Down A Forest, visited on November 17 2014, https://news.vice.com/video/the-lake-that-burned-down-a-forest-part-1 Wepco Nepal (2009), About us http://www.wepco.org.np/about/ visited on September 12 2014 Wolframpalpha (2015), Dominican Republic, visited on June 23 2014, http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=dominican+republic&lk=4 Wolframpalpha (2015), transportation in Dominican Republic, visited on June 24 2014, http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=dominican+republic+transportation Wordpress (2010), lagranaventura, visited on June 24 2014, http://lagranaventura.wordpress.com/korte-voorstelling-van-het-project/domi
40
5.2 Logbooks
Logbook Ydwer Oostenveld Date
Time
Place
What did I do?
23 june 2014
14:0015:00
at school
formed groups and chose assignment
at school
(social) geographical characteristics, factfile
at school
Finishing (social) geographical characteristics, conflict analysis etc,
Remarks
Total: 1 hour
25 june 2014
10:30 15:30
pause: 30 min Total: 5,5 hours
26 june 2014
14:00 15:00 Total: 6,5 hours
29 august 2014
11:30 12:30
at school
Working on working plan (plan van aanpak)
29 august 2014
17:00 17:30
at home
Working on working plan
2 september 2014
20:15 20:45
at home
Searching for similar projects on the internet
5 september 2014
11:30 12:30
at school
Searching the internet for ways in which plastic is recycled.
Total: 7,5 hours
Total: 8 hours
Total: 8.5 hours
Total: 9.5 hours
41
not a lot of regional ‘facts’ to be found, we had difficulties finding primary sources and how to refer to them. To solve this problem, we will have to ask our teachers for help.
There is not a lot information to find. We hope to talk soon with someone of Lankhorst who can tell us a lot more about plastic recycling. We will have to search the internet or other sources for companies we can contact.
9 september 2014
20:00 20:30
at home
Skyping with Lucie Pecinkova about her project ‘’Cash the Trash’’ in Nepal, a project similar to ours.
12 september 2014
19:30 20:30
at home
Working on a document about what we can learn from ‘’Cash the Trash’’
3 october 2014
11:30 12:30
at school
Looking up information about plastic recycling in the Netherlands
at home
Adjusting the document about Cash the Trash
TU Delft
Study day
at home
looking up information about omrin and other recycling companies
at home
looking up information about recycling companies and facts about plastic recycling in the Netherlands and sent a mail to plastic heroes.
It was hard to find actual facts about the percentage of recycled plastic in the Netherlands in Dutch sources. Luckily I found some information on a European site.
Lankhorst Sneek
Got a tour through the factory and
We came to the conclusion that we will need to make the households
Total: 10.5 hours
Total: 11.5 hours
Total: 12.5 hours
5 october 2014
10:15 11:00 Total: 13.25 hours
9 october 2014
entire day Total: 23.25 hours
18 october 2014
19:30 20:00 Total: 23.45 hours
1 november 2014
13:00 16:00
4 november
10:00 11:30
Total: 26.45 hours
42
?
It was helpful to talk with someone of Worldschool and brainstorm again about our working plan. Now we have a better vision about what we’re expected to do.
2014
Total: 28.15 hours
4 november 2014
13:00 14:00
11 november 2014
13:00 14:00
18 november 2014
12:30 13:00
22 november 2014
12:00 16:00
5 december 2014
16:00 16:15
talked with a separate their own waste and that we need to find something simple member of the that can be made of granulate. company about possible solutions for the Dominican Republic. at school
Worked on subquestions 1.1 and 1.2
at school
Brainstorming on how to proceed.
We changed our working plan and we found out that we have come further in our project. Now we have more goal centred goals.
at school
Having a conversation about our progress
We are running behind schedule, so we have to get some work done. We have made a new timetable.
at home
Adapting the working plan
There was not a lot information to find, but I contacted an organization. I hope I can get some more information from them.
at home
Sending an e-mail to Richard Severin
We still did not receive an email of the organization we contacted, so now we hope to get some information from Richard Severin. I also sent an e-mail to the Caribbean Export Development Agency, to see if they have information about the current situation in the Dominican Republic.
at home
Looking through the information sent by Richard Severin and summarize the useful information
Some pages are in Spanish, so it is hard to find the right translations. There is a lot information, though. I discovered that I probably had to ask for informaiton much earlier in the process, because it is very helpful and for a long time we did not know where to look for information.
at home
Looking up information about
We sent emails to some companies involved in the waste management of Dominican Republic, but
Total: 29.15 hours
Total: 30.15 hours
Total: 30.45 hours
Total: 34.45 hours
Total: 35.00 hours
9 december 2014
15:00 17:00
14 december
13:00 15:00
Total: 37.00 hours
Total: 39.00
43
2014
hours
15 december 2014
17:00 18:00
2 january 2015
13:00 16:00
the current waste management in the Dominican Republic.
unfortunately we did not yet receive any response. This makes it very hard to go on with our research to the current waste management in the Dominican Republic.
at home
Thinking about a solution for the plastic problem in the Dominican Republic and reading through all the information we have gathered so far.
When you are not really involved in the problem, it is hard to get a good image of the whole situation. But we try to gather as much information as possible, to help the Dominican Republic getting further in the process of solving their plastic problem.
at home
Sending an e-mail to Richard Severin, adapting various subquestions and setting up a business plan.
at school
Discussing the progress of our project with other group members
at school
working on working plan of experiment for chemistry
at home
working on working plan of experiment for chemistry
at home
working on working plan of experiment for chemistry
at school
gathering information for creating a scheme for the separation of different kinds of
Total: 40.00 hours
Total: 43.00 hours
20 january 2015
13:00 14:30 Total: 44.30 hours
21 january 2015
20:30 21:00 Total: 45 hours
25 January 2015
16:00 17:30 Total: 46.5 hours
29 January 2015
10:40 11:40 Total: 47.5 hours
3 February 2015
11:30 12:30 Total: 48.5 hours
44
We came to the conclusion that we can mix PP with PE, so we only need to sort out PET, PS and PVC out of the plastic
plastic 7 February 2015
10:00 16:00
at home
Making a scheme of our process of filtering out the plastic we want to use for recycling
at home
Making a nice list of our sources and correcting some mistakes
at school
Adapting the processes of the plastic recycling
at home
Finishing and completing the subquestions
At school
Finishing conclusion, final adjustments
Total: 54.5 hours
8 February 2015
10:00 – 16:00 Total: 60.5
10 February 2015
18:00 21:00
11 February 2015
9:10 10:10
12 February 2015
16:00 22:00
13 February 2015
8:00 – 10:30
Total: 63.5 hours
Total: 64.5 hours
Total: 70.5 hours
Total 73 hours
45
We got new ideas for the kinds of plastic we want to recycle in our plastic recycling company
Logbook Sybrand van der Molen Date
Time
Place
What did I do?
at school
formed groups and chose assignment
at school
(social) geographical characteristics, factfile
at school
Finishing (social) geographical characteristics, conflict analysis etc,
at school
Working on working plan
at school at home
Searching the internet for ways in which plastic is recycled.
at school
Rewriting our working plan
at school
Finishing working plan and time schedule
Problems encountered
cumulative time
23 june 2014 14:00-15:00 1 hour
25 june 2014 10:30 - 12:30 13:00 - 15:30 5:30 hours
26 june 2014 14:00 - 15:00
6:30 hours
29 august 2014
11:30 - 12:30
not a lot of regional ‘facts’ to be found, we had difficulties finding primary sources and how to refer to them. To solve this problem, we had to ask our teachers for help.
7:30 hours
5 september 2014
11:30 - 12:30 14:00 - 14:30
9 hours
september 12 2014
12:00 - 12:30 9:30 hours
september 19 2014
11:30 12:30 10:30 hours
46
There is not a lot information to find. We hope to talk soon with someone of Lankhorst. We will have to search the internet or other sources for companies we can contact.
september 20 2014
16:30 - 17:30
at home
Requesting information on earlier projects
october 8 2014
19:30 - 21:00
at home
Researching subquestion 1.1
october 9 2014
13:30 - 16:30
TU Delft
Study day
October 22 2014
18:45 - 20:45
at home
Reading up on plastic recycling processes
October 26
12:00 - 13:30
at home
Working on subquestion 1.1
4 November 2014
10:00 - 11:30 Total: 28 hours
Lankhorst Sneek
Got a tour through the factory and talked with a member of the company about possible solutions for the Dominican Republic.
We came to the conclusion that we will need to make the households separate their own waste and that we need to find something simple that can be made of granulate.
5 November 2014
19:00 - 19:30
at home
Contacted Richard Severin and informed group of findings
It turned out that there were in fact no earlier projects on this subject, unlike what we previously thought.
11 november 2014
13:00 - 14:00
at school
Brainstorming on how to proceed.
We changed our working plan and we found out that we have come further in our project. Now we have more goal centred goals.
18 november 2014
12:30 - 13:00
at school
Having a conversation about our progress
We are running behind schedule, so we have to get some work done. We have made a new timetable.
11:30 hours
13 hours
Total: 23 hours
Total: 28:30 hours
Total: 29:30 hours
Total: 30 hours
47
Worldschool did not have these projects and referred us to Richard Severin
It was helpful to talk with someone of Worldschool and brainstorm again about our working plan. Now we have a better vision about what we’re expected to do.
19 november 2014
19:00 -20:00
at home
working on subquestion 1.1
24 november 2014
20:30 - 22:00 32:30 hours
at home
working on subquestion 1.1
6 december 2014
15:00 - 16:00 33:30
at home
looking up information on recycling machinery
15 December 2014
13:30 - 14:00 19:30 - 20:30 35:00
at school at home
Finding sources for specific properties of plastic products and and sources for subquestion 7
4 January 2015
12:00 - 14:00 37
at home
researching and working on subquestion 7
17 January 2015
13:45 - 15:15 38:30 hours
at home
reading up on the workings of plastic production and recycling
20 january 2015
13:00 - 14:30 40 hours
at school
Discussing the progress of our project with other group members
21 january 2015
10:30 - 11:00
at school
working on working plan of experiment for chemistry
25 January 2015
18:45 - 20:15 42 hours
at home
working on subquestion 7
3 February 2015
11:30 - 12:30 43 hours
at school
creating a plastic separation scheme
7 February
10:30 - 13:15
at home
describing the
31 hours
40:30 hours
48
There is a huge variety of machinery available, but we should focus on the things we really need.
Separating the information we need from the information we do not need is very difficult because there are many different ways to recycle plastic.
2015
13:45 - 18:30 19:00 - 19:30 51 hours
production process and looking up information for others
8 February 2015
14:00 - 16:30 20:00 - 21:30 55 hours
at home
organising documentation and removing outdated notes
9 February 2015
13:00 - 14:00 19:30 – 22:00 58:30 hours
at school
correcting errors and bad sentence structures
10 February 2015
11:00 - 12:30 20:30 - 21:30 61 hours
at school at home
Scientific article
11 February 2015
18:30 - 19:30 62 hours
at home
Final adjustments
12 February 2015
15:30 - 18:00 18:30 - 22:00 68 hours
at home
Final adjustments, Scientific article
13 February 2015
9:10 – 10:10 69 hours
at school
Finishing layout
49
Logbook Hugo Pijl Date
Time
Place
What did I do?
June 23
14:00-15:00
at school
We formed a group and chose an assignment
June 25
10:30 - 15:30 pause 30 min
at school
(social) geographical characteristics
There were not a lot regional ‘facts’ to be found. We struggled finding primary sources and referring to them.
June 26
14:00-15:00
at school
Finishing (social) geographical characteristics, conflict analysis etc.
Difficulties conflict analysis
August 29
11:30-12:30
At school
Working on working plan
September 1
21:30-22:00
at home
Working on working plan
September 5
11:30-12:30
at school
Searching the internet for ways in which plastic is recycled
September 12
11:30-12:30
at school
Editing the working plan after feedback
September 15
16:00 - 17:30
at home
Continuing working on working plan and creating separate logbook
September 19
11:30 - 12:30
at school
Finishing working plan and time
Cumulative
Total: 1 hour
Total: 5.5 hours
Total: 8 hours
Total 7.5 hours
Total: 8 hours
Total: 9 hours
Total: 10 hours
Total: 11:30 hours
Total: 12:30
50
Problems encountered
There is not a lot information to find. We hope to talk soon with someone of Lankhorst who can tell us a lot more about plastic recycling.
schedule October 3
11:30 -12:30
at school
Working on subquestion 4.1
October 8
19:15 - 21:15
at home
Working on subquestion 4.1: plastic heroes and PET-bottles
October 9
entire day
Delft
Following presentations by Worldschool, discussing out working plan
November 11
13:00 - 15:00
at school
Meeting/brainstorming with group about what to do
November 15
16:00 - 17:00
at home
Searching for information, sources of any kind
November 20
12:00 - 13:00
at school
Editing some text of subquestion 4, searching information
December 8
21:00 - 21:45
at home
Reading some articled sent by Severin
December 11
13:00 - 14:30
at school
Reading some links Richard Severin sent us, rate its relevance and editing
Total: 13:30
Total: 15:30
Total: 25:30
Total: 26:30
Total: 27:30
Total: 28:30
Total: 29:15
Total: 30:45
51
Very little to be found on the internet about waste/plastic recycling in the DR (especially English)
It’s mostly in Spanish. Google translator required, but it isn’t always accurate. Its very difficult to work on this problem using limited information, like some (translated) news articles etc.
subquestion 5 December 15
21:00 - 22:30
at home
Working on subquestion 5
January 8
12:30 - 14:30
at home
Working on business plan & searching the web
January 19
13:30 - 14:00
at school
Discussing business plan with mrs. Verweij
January 20
13:00 - 14:30
at school
Discussing the progress of our project with other group members
January 23
20:00 - 21:30
at home
Editing some text of the subquestions
Dictionary required
January 24
13:00 - 15:30 Total: 40:15
at my place (with Floris)
Discussing about the setup of the Business plan, with the help of Mrs. Verweij’s remarks.
We found it to be difficult to make a realistic projection of the financial situation.
February 1
13:00 - 17:00
at Floris’
Reforming and rethinking business plan, implementing container deposit
February 3
10:45 - 15:30
At my place (with Floris)
Working on business plan, budget, working out strategy, making graphical figure of bottle/money flow
Total: 32:15
Total: 34:15
Total 35:45
Total 36:15
Total: 37:45
Total: 44:15
Total: 49:00
52
Difficult to estimate the costs, because of a different currency, different price level in a different country.
February 4
11:30 - 12:30
At school
Working on balance budget
February 4
17:00 - 18:00
At home
Working on budget
February 5
13:00 - 14:00
At school
Reading through our file, looking for errors.
February 6
11:30-12:30
At school
Working on layout of the project, contacting English teacher for checking our English
February 7
21:00 - 22:30
At home
Inserting footnotes
February 8
15:00 - 17:00
At home
Finishing business plan, checking English
20:00 - 21:00
At home
Reading through the file, looking for errors and correcting them.
12:00 - 14:00
At school
Handing over a printing version of our project to Mrs, Veldkamp for checking English Thinking about and starting with the content of the scientific article
Total: 50:00
Total: 51:00
Total: 52:00
Total: 53:00
Total: 54:30
Total: 56:30
Total: 57:30
February 9
59:30
53
Mrs. Andre can’t check our English due to an English education week for teachers
19:00 - 20:00
February 10
Organizing all the files, making things more clear. Corrected some errors
61:30
At home
16:00 - 17:00
At home
Inserting footnotes, sources etc
At home
Updating logbook, working on scientific article
Total: 67:30
At home
Working on scientific article
14:00 - 17:00
At school / at home
Implementing Mrs. Verweij remarks, checking English with Mrs. Veldkamp and working on scientific article
20:00 - 21:00 Total: 63:30
February 11
17:00 - 18:00 Total: 64:30
20:00 - 23:00
February 12
Total: 70:30
At home 19:00 - 21:00 Total: 72:30
February 13
9:10 – 10:10 Total: 73:30
At school
54
Making final adjusments
Logbook Floris Witteveen Date
Time
Place
What did I do?
at school
formed groups and chose assignment
at school
(social) geographical characteristics, factfile
at school
Finishing (social) geographical characteristics, conflict analysis etc,
at school
Working on working plan (plan van aanpak)
at home
Working on working plan
at school
Searching the internet for ways in which plastic is recycled.
at school
Rewriting our working plan
at home
Sending email to KROY foundation and diving into project
Remarks
cumulative time
June 23 2014 14:00-15:00 1 hour
June 25 2014 10:30 - 15:30 pause: 30 min
5.5 hours
June 26 2014 14:00 - 15:00
6.5 hours
August 29 2014
11:30 - 12:30 7.5 hours
September 1 2014
19:00 - 19:30
September 5 2014
11:30 - 12:30
8 hours
9 hours
September 12 2014
12:00 - 12:30 16:30 - 17:00 10 hours
55
not a lot of regional ‘facts’ to be found, we had difficulties finding primary sources and how to refer to them. To solve this problem, we had to ask our teachers for help.
There is not a lot information to be found. We hope to talk soon with someone of Lankhorst who can tell us a lot more about plastic recycling. We will have to search the internet or other sources for companies we can contact.
September 15 2014
16:00 - 17:30
at home
11.5 hours
Translating working plan (first made in English) Refining subquestions
September 19 2014
11:30 12:30
at school
Finishing working plan and time schedule
at home
Working on subquestion 3
at home
Working on subquestion 3
at home
Working on subquestion 3
TU Delft
Study day
at home
Organizing project and sending an update of our progress
at school
Brainstorming about rest of project
at home
Working on subquestion 5
at home
Scheduling for the 16th of December
at home
Working on subquestion 4, reorganizing collaboration
12.5 hours
September 23 2014
19:30 - 20:00
October 7 2014
19:30 - 21:00
October 8 2014
19:30 - 20:30
October 9 2014
entire day
November 7 2014
21:00 - 21:30
November 11 2014
13:00 - 14:00
November 17 2014
19:30 - 20:30
November 22 2014
13:30 - 14:00
November 23 2014
16:00 - 17:00
13 hours
14.5 hours
15.5 hours
Total: 25.5 hours
Total: 26 hours
Total: 27 hours
Total: 28 hours
Total: 28.5 hours
Total: 29.5 hours
56
It was helpful to talk with someone of Worldschool and brainstorm again about our working plan. Now we have a better vision about what we’re expected to do.
We changed our working plan and we found out that we have come further in our project. Now we have more “goal centred” goals.
Our Google Drive folder needed a bit of cleanup, so I organized everything to become much more wellorganized.
folder November 27 2014
11:30 - 12:30
at school
Doing research / working on subquestion 4
December 9 2014
15:00 - 17:00
at home
Working on subquestion 4
Due to the fact that we got some information from our contact at KROY I could really make some progress.
December 15 2014
21:15 - 22:15
at home
Putting everything together and starting to work on subquestion 6
There were a lot of different files, and putting them together helps shaping our project.
January 2 2015
13:00 - 16:00
at Ydwer’s
Working on subquestion 6, researching business plan
There are still a lot of loose ends we need to tackle.
January 7 2015
16:00 - 18:00
at home
Working on business plan and fine tuning subquestions
January 8 2015
11:30 - 13:00
at school
Working on business plan
January 19 2015
13:30 - 14:00
at school
Discussing business plan with mrs. Verweij
January 20 2015
13:00 - 14:30
at school
Discussing the progress of our project with other group members
January 23 2015
18:30 - 20:30
at home
Clearing up the layout, fine tuning subquestion 6 (some missing information) and adding ‘get the picture’ research
The project is starting to get into shape. There are still a lot of loose ends we need to tackle but it looks better every time I work on it.
January 24 2015
13:00 - 15:30
at Hugo’s
Discussing about business plan with
It’s very difficult to assess how we can implement
Total 30.5 hours
Total 32.5 hours
Total 33.5 hours
Total 36.5 hours
Total 38.5 hours
Total 40 hours
Total 40.5 hours
Total 42 hours
Total 44 hours
Total 46.5 hours
57
Hugo, taking into account the remarks of Mrs. Verweij January 28 2015
16:00 - 18:00
February 1 2015
13:00 - 17:00
such a business plan.
at home
Writing out the assignment, starting on introduction and working on layout
Total 52.5 hours
at home (with Hugo)
Rethinking and rewriting our business plan to give it a more concrete property
We are starting to see what our project will look like when it will be finished.
February 3 2015
10:45 - 15:30
at Hugo’s
Working on business plan, budget, working out strategy, making graphical figure of bottle/money flow
Difficult to estimate the costs, because of a different currency and different price level.
February 4 2015
11:30 - 12:30
at school
Working on business plan; table of budget
February 6 2015
11:30 - 12:30
at school
Working on layout of the project, contacting English teacher for checking our English
February 7 2015
12:00 - 14:00
at home
Working on business plan, placing sources in appendix
February 7 2015
16:30 - 17:15
at home
Checking English, inserting footnotes
February 8 2015
13:30 - 15:00
at home
Checking everything on
Total 48.5 hours
Total 57:15 hours
Total 58.15 hours
Total 59.15 hours
Total 61.15 hours
Total 62 hours
Total 63.5 hours
58
The business plan is now finally finished, and ready to be checked by mrs Verweij
correct use of English. Emailing mrs Verweij for business plan and mrs Veldkamp for final English check
21:00 - 21:30 Total 64 hours
February 9 2015
14:30 - 15:30
February 10
19:00 - 21:00
at home
Working on layout and start working on scientific article
at home
Determining and applying correct notation of sources (together with Ydwer)
at home
Updating footnotes to match with source names
at school / at Hugo’s
Implementing commentary from mrs Verweij and mrs Veldkamp, working on scientific article
Total 65 hours
Total 67 hours
February 11
18:00 - 19:00 Total 68 hours
February 12
14:00 - 17:00 Total: 71 hours
19:30 - 21:30
All kinds of small changes
Total: 73 hours
February 13
8:30 – 10:30 Total: 75 hours
at school
Correcting layout, final adjustments
59
It was quite a task searching the dates and writers of the sources and what the notation should be like.
5.3 Mails and Files
60