Let’s bring back bottle deposits
FILIPINO inventor William Chua is suggesting that we bring back bottle deposits. He suggested that idea to me after observing that the junk shops are not buying used glass and plastic bottles, and that is why they would eventually end up in dumpsites or landfills, despite many attempts to recycle them.
Many years ago, when most bottled drinks were still sold in two- way or returnable bottles, there was no problem recycling these bottles, because the junk shops were buying them, and the junk collector was also able to buy them from the households.
In other words, there was a market for recyclables at that time, and the action of recycling was well rewarded.
Today, many i f not most of liquids are sold in one-way or nonreturnable bottles. That caused a problem, because there was no longer a market for these bottles.
The problem was made worse when many products in bottles were already imported, and the importers were not interested in getting back their used bottles.
In the old days, used bottles could be bought by the piece, because the sizes were standard or uniform. Since that is no longer the case today, I now suggest that these used bottles should now be bought by the kilo, regardless of their size or manufacturer.
Some might think that this is an impractical idea, but practical or not, we should now think of new ways to reduce the volume of used containers that we are throwing away as garbage.
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LOCAL AMBULANCE SERVICES
Consider yourself lucky if you live in a city or musicality that has a free ambulance service for public use. If not, you could be facing a great threat to your health safety everyday where you now live.
Of course, every ambulance service needs to have teams of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) also, because ambulances would be useless if there are no EMTs.
Who is in charge of requiring and monitoring the compliance of local government units ( LGUs) when i t comes to ambulance services and EMTs? I s i t t he Department of Health ( DOH)? Or the Department of Interior and Local Government ( DILG)? Or could it even be the Bureau of Fire Protection ( BFP)?
Depending on where you live, and depending on the policies and programs of your LGU, the provision of ambulance services and EMTs could either be under the Fire Department, or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO), sometimes called the Rescue Department.
Ambulance units are not too expensive, and they are obviously cheaper than fire trucks. And also, not too many ambulance units are needed, unlike the number of fire trucks needed.
That said, why is it that there are still some LGUs that do not have ambulance units and EMTs? Could it be that the task of requiring and monitoring the compliance of LGUs should properly belong to the provincial governors, since they are the ones who really know the actual situation in the ground?/
Some might think that this is an impractical idea, but practical or not, we should now think of new ways to reduce the volume of used containers that we are throwing away as garbage.