After the Garbage Truck Leaves

Those names may be far from our homes. However, some of the contents of our house end up there. Coffee wrappers, food boxes, plastic bottles, shopping bags, tissue, leftover rice, used clothes, and vegetables that you forget to cook until they rot in the refrigerator.

All gathered as one. Items that come with different brands and prices end up living together in the same place.

The problem is, the pile doesn't just sit still. The leachate seeps into the ground. The smell carries the wind to the settlement. Methane gas forms under the fill. When it rains, there is a risk of pollution and landslides. During the dry season, fires lurk.

We call this the final processing site. Residents in the area may know it in another way: the smell that comes uninvited.

The processing technology is actually already available. Organic waste can be processed. Plastic can be sorted and recycled. Some waste can be used as fuel or energy.

The choices are many. The reasons for postponing are also numerous.