According to Einer Kebekol, one of the state’s waste segregation officer, about forty households throughout the state, were able to sell discarded aluminum products, which they had segregated from their household wastes and kept, last week.
A Sam Masang’s company – through an established understanding with the state’s WSMP– sent a truck to Ngarchelong last week to collect and buy the aluminum waste items from the residents.
“We escorted Masang’s truck from household to household collecting and weighing the aluminum,” Kebekol said, “and people made money out of trash.”
Kebekol said the company buys aluminum products at 24 cents per pound, which, he added, is extremely a good return of money spent on beverages considered not good for a persons overall health.
Residents are asked to keep the most of the recyclable items they want to sell at their homes, and waste segregation officers maintain a track of how much is kept at each house.
“After each trash collection day, a check of the collective amount of trash kept at households is calculated. If the amount, especially with high cost of fuel, is at point where it is deemed ‘business friendly’, we’d call Masang’s company and they’ll pick them all up,” Kebekol said.
Kebekol further added that the coordinator of WSMP is in negotiations with other companies about the other recyclable waste such as plastics and other metal products.
As far as other benefits go, Kebekol said that waste actually disposed at the new landfill has been reduced, which adds to its longer use. Further, the state is whole lot cleaner now that people are more conscious about what they throw away and where.
