To Recycle or Reuse?

Although the Galapagos are known mostly for their unique natural ecosystems, they are also home to thousands of human beings. This unique situation brings with it a balancing act, between the needs of the natural environment and the people who also inhabit the islands. The situation on the islands regarding bottles and cans is a microcosm of a larger question regarding what should be brought to the islands, and who is ultimately responsible for it.

In order for food and other goods to reach the islands they must be shipped in from the mainland, in a journey of hundreds of miles. Bottles and cans of soft drinks, purified water and beer make up a sizeable portion of many of these shipments. Because of the limited space on the islands for waste management, this is a concern for the municipal government, the Galapagos national park, and all those involved in conservation activities on the islands.

Currently, it is illegal to ship bottles to Santa Cruz which cannot be re-used. Up until recently this was also the case on San Cristobal island. Under the law, only bottles which could be returned to the mainland, refilled and reused are allowed. The intent of the law is to decrease the amount of plastic and glass which must be recycled on the islands, and hold distributors responsible for the transport of bottles to and from the islands.

Unfortunately, the lack of regulation on San Cristobal and Isabela has rendered the law largely ineffective on Santa Cruz. According to the director of the Fabricio Valverde Recycling Center on Santa Cruz, Xavier Salazar, individuals are shipping the bottles and cans to Santa Cruz from Isabela and San Cristobal to get around the regulations. This practice has lead to an increase in the number of bottles on Santa Cruz, which must be processed and shipped back to the mainland.

In order to protect the Galapagos, it is important to maintain restrictions on what can and cannot be brought to the islands. The restrictions on non re-usable bottles was an excellent example of legislation in action to protect the islands. Unfortunately, there is more money to be made by distributors if single use containers are allowed, which may ultimately have been the reason the law was repealed on San Cristobal, and remains off the books on Isabela.

Isla San Cristobal

The waste management center serving Isla San Cristobal is located 4 kilometers outside of the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, in the temperate highland region. The 7 acre center consists of sections for plastic and glass, cardboard, metal, trash and organic waste. Plastic and glass bottles are separated, packaged and shipped back to the mainland for processing. Some bottles are ground, shipped back as pellets and sold for use in the production of goods such as benches and new containers.

All of the recycling for San Cristobal is done at this, by a crew of only 13 individuals. Mounds of glass, heaps of plastic containers, cans, cardboard and piles of scrap metal dot the jungle landscape. All sorting is done by hand, which is a very labor intensive endeavor. Recently a glass and plastic grinding machine, similar to the machine on Santa Cruz was introduced. Before the establishment of the recycling center on San Cristobal, all waste on the island was transported to an open landfill on the far north-east side of the island. In addition to the operation of the new facility, the staff is slowly processing the decades worth of waste from the old landfill, and disposing of it properly.

In addition to their other sections, the center also includes a large open air organic compost area. All organic waste is separated out, and dumped in this area in order to be naturally broken down into compost. The piles are rotated and turned, using a combination of manual labor and mechanization in the form of a small bull dozer. After 6 months, the compost is considered completed. The finished product is sold by the center for a price of $12.00 US for 48 kilograms of compost. The proceeds from these sales are used as a sources of funding for the continued operation and growth of the recycling program on San Cristobal.

In addition to selling the compost for profit, it is also used at the recycling center to encourage the growth of endemic plant species. The employees have begun a program aimed at eradicating invasive plant species and replacing them with endemic ones. This is largely a labor of love, and a daunting task in such a large, overgrown area.

A newer initiative of the recycling program has to do with the by products of transportation and industry on the island. Used oil and gas are now being packaged and shipped back to the mainland for reprocessing. Prior to this, used petroleum products were simply dumped in the landfill along with all other garbage. Although this project is relatively new, the impact is already being felt on the island, notably in the reduced risk of groundwater contamination.

Santa Cruz: The Booming Metropolis

The largest and most comprehensive waste management center in the Galápagos is appropriately on the most populated island – Santa Cruz. The Fabricio Valverde Environmental Park is located in the highlands outside of Puerto Ayora, the main city of Isla Santa Cruz. The waste management center was set up by the Fundación Galápagos Ecuador, with funding from donors such as the municipal government, international corporations, and NGO’s such as the World Wildlife Fund. It represents a cooperative effort between the government, the national park and the Fundación Galápagos Ecuador.

This waste management center is unique in the sense that each worker (there are 9 in total) has their own specific piece of recycling to take care of. For instance, one worker is assigned plastic bottles, another is assigned glass bottles, while another worker will pull together all of the cardboard boxes. This type of structure enables efficiency and a straightforward approach to processing all of the waste that comes through the center. In addition to the waste processing stations, the environmental park includes a comprehensive learning station for students and visitors.

Different types of waste are handled in different ways. Paper and cardboard are compacted and then shipped back to mainland Ecuador for recycling. The system of paper and cardboard recycling is comprehensive and begins at each home on the island, where residents have been educated in the separation of paper and cardboard. Plastic materials are also separated and then ground up at the recycling center. The plastic materials are fed into a machine where they are heated and broken down depending on the fineness that is requested. The final ranges from very small pellets to coarser, irregular pieces of plastic. The ground plastic is sent back to the mainland and used for distribution in a variety of different products, such as park benches and stuffed animals.

On site there is also a glass grinding machine. In the same set-up as the plastic grinding machine, the glass particles can come out very fine or larger, depending on what is desired. The glass is not sent back to the mainland however, but is rather mixed with cement and then turned into paving stones. The paving stones are then sold to the municipality, and the profits in turn act as a source of funding for the recycling center. As the glass never leaves the island, the energy costs associated with transporting materials to and from the islands are saved.

In addition to these main recycling areas, there is a composting facility on site for organic waste. The waste is compiled and left out in a field to decompose and return to the ground. A specially designed metal drum is used to speed up the process, as high humidity and heat inside the drum hastens the decomposition of organic waste. Less land is devoted to composting because of the machine, freeing up more land for other uses.

The Fabricio Valverde Environmental Park is a significant step in the right direction, relative to the waste management system it replaced. Previously, all of the un-separated waste from Santa Cruz was dumped, into a landfill outside of Puerto Ayora. The system also continues to grow: from 2000 to 2005, the total amount of material recycled increased by around 1200% (Fundacion Galapagos).

The current system is also much more comprehensive, and has a smaller impact on the fragile island ecosystem. Given the resources available on Santa Cruz, the amount of recycling going on is remarkable. For example, although the GDP of the residents of Santa Cruz is less than one fifth that of the United States, the rate of recycling is nearly identical. With a rate of around 30% of all waste being recycled, the island of Santa Cruz is comparable to more developed nations such as those of Northern Europe and North America (BBC News). Although still relatively new, and a work in progress, Santa Cruz presents a framework for the other islands to follow in waste management techniques and operations, and a precedent for the world at large.

Isabela: The Frontier Island

Located at the western edge of the Galapagos, Isabela is the largest island in the archipelago. Due in large part to its inaccessibility, it is also the least populated of the three major islands, with most of the 2,200 residents living in the settlement of Puerto Villamil.

Despite the relative isolation and low population, development has come to Isabela in recent years. The harbor is often filled with pleasure boats, and there are numerous hotels lining the white sandy beaches. Construction has also penetrated inland, with homes and hotels clustered along the edges of mangrove swamp and fields of volcanic basalt.

Unlike Santa Cruz and San Cristobal, Isabela does not have a comprehensive waste management plan. Historically, all of the islands waste has been dumped in a landfill located a few kilometers from Puerto Villamil. The unsanitary conditions of the landfill have bred rats, which in turn threaten endemic birds, and the iconic land tortoise.

Recently, a cooperative effort between the municipal government of Isabela and the national park has begun development and implementation of a more comprehensive waste management plan. This new plan has four stated goals: to figure out where to put the waste, to begin recycling, to save the fragile ecosystem of the island, and to protect the scarce groundwater resources.

Alam Romero of the municipal government has been spearheading the effort, which began with separation of the waste currently in the landfill. Six individuals have divided the accumulated waste into glass, plastic, cardboard, metals, organics and garbage. The second phase of the plan is to establish a new, sanitary landfill twelve kilometers from Puerto Villamil. “El Mango,” as it is known, will be located on 10 acres, and will be a great improvement on the current location.

As an environmental engineer, Romero was also a driving force in the design of the new facility. El Mango will include both recycling and trash sequestration efforts, with care taken to avoid negative impacts on the environment. Trash will be placed in large piles, which will subsequently be covered in soil and reseeded with endemic plants. Underneath these piles will be layers of impermeable plastic, and a natural filtration system of volcanic rocks to protect the groundwater from contamination.

The work on Isabela island is of great importance, as it is the last of the three major islands to begin work on a waste management program. Quick action is needed in order to preserve one of the most unique, and most vulnerable, ecosystems on the planet. Human impact on Isabela may be less than on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal, but it still exists. With more development on the way, it is important that Isabela begin to make strides towards more efficient and ecological handling of human generated waste.