A FOREIGN CONCERN: SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN PANAJACHEL
Anna Wex
Simon Fraser University
It was the first afternoon with my host family in
Panajachel. I was prepared to accept the awkwardness of getting to know these
new strangers in their own home while negotiating the discomfort of filling
idle hours in a language I could not yet speak. A welcome opportunity arrived
that afternoon during an outing that had been planned by the local Evangelical
parish for the community’s children. My host mother, her two youngest daughters
and I met up with a friend of hers and we began to walk down the narrow and
angled street that connected their homes to the main road into town. We met up
with the schoolteacher and church’s youth leader along with 25 or so other children
between the ages of 5 and 13. The sun was hot, and the children were anxious to
run off and play. We walked through the alleyways and then along the main road
that wound its way up the Panajachel river, past the entrance to the town
proper and arrived at some undeveloped land where lush, green jungle vegetation
grew wildly.
We came to a clearing at the side of the road
where we could see a tall waterfall a few hundred paces away. It launched
itself off the edge of a 30m cliff into a muddy pond and splashed onto the
remnants of permanent trash below. The kids squealed with delight from the road
as they ran towards the water and began throwing all sorts of surrounding items
into the pool… rocks, fallen twigs and sticks, and when those objects became
scarce; plastic pop bottles, old shoes, assorted plastic containers, glass
bottles and an array of aluminum and tin cans. The adults seemed to be
un-phased as they peacefully monitored the scene, smiling faintly at the
playful splashing, shouting and squealing. My first reaction was one of
astonishment as I stood by, watching in silent wonderment as they threw trash
melee into the pool. I suddenly realized that I had possibly encountered an
interface between two knowledge/belief systems. I considered their play toys to
be filthy representations of objects people no longer wanted. I found myself
wondering whether it was acceptable to play with these objects because they are
unaware of the unsanitary nature of handling other peoples’ garbage, or whether
it just wasn’t seen as garbage in the first place.
I became instantly intrigued with the issue of
garbage. I initially wanted to find out whether different definitions and
opinions as to what constituted garbage exist in Panajachel. I found that they
do in fact exist, but what resulted from my research was a greater
understanding of waste management issues in Panajachel, and their implications
for a tourism-based economy.
INTRODUCTION
The cycle of consumption is a difficult one to manage. As we buy, sell, eat and contribute to sustaining local (and global) economies, we not only produce goods for consumption, but inevitably produce waste. Waste management is a universal occupation. Some places have formal programs and activities where sophisticated re-use and recycling of materials is facilitated by advanced technology and expertise. Other places attest to individual ability to manage their own waste, for instance dropping unwanted materials such as candy wrappers and plastic bags on the side of the road. This may seem like a facetious and chiding observation, but in many places where facilities, education and resources are scarce, peoples’ behaviour in regards to their immediate environment default to solving immediate predicaments with direct solutions.
In many cases, behaviour that is borne from this problem-solving process contributes to long-term consequences with regards to the health and well being of citizens and their environment. In addition, behaviour becomes entrenched as habit and subsequently functions to shape the cultural values for generations to come.
This paper addresses the issue of basura[1] in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala. The study is focused in Panajachel, which has the longest history of formal waste management than any other community in the Lake Atitlan basin. In addition, its local economy has, in the last twenty to thirty years, come to rely on tourism. This is a market whose income is largely dependent on the aesthetics of a well-groomed visual environment. This has significant effects on and consequences for waste management in Panajachel. In order to frame the research, this paper begins with a description of Panajachel: its people, its history in brief, and the role it plays as a host site and gateway for tourism.
In general, tourism presents many difficulties for waste management programs in developing countries. In Panajachel, waste management has largely been an activity initiated by foreigners (resident expatriates), and continues to serve foreigners (international tourists). This paper will look at the various issues of waste management in Panajachel, with a look at the local history, from traditional methods to current practices and complications, in relation to the problem of ‘basura’.
RESEARCH SETTING
Situated on the northeastern shore of Lake Atitlan in the Highlands of Guatemala, Panajachel is likely the most visited town of all the municipios around the lake. In 1999, it had a resident population of 10,584 people, but the actual population fluctuates throughout the year as a result of its ever-increasing tourism industry.
Panajachel’s population consists of a mosaic of people and cultural backgrounds ranging from indigenous people, Ladinos, resident expatriates, and tourists. Seventy-two percent of Panajachel’s population is composed of indigenous (1999) people whose predominant language is Kaqchikel[2], though many of them also speak Spanish. It is a relatively large population that works and lives in various parts of the town including Barrio Jucanya to the east of the town towards the municipio of Santa Catarina, and Barrio Norte to the north of the Catholic church and Municipal building.
Ladino is a term that traditionally refers to the descendents of indigenous people who inter-married with the Spanish colonizers. Today the concept of ladino is further complicated by cultural prejudism coupled with fluidity and variability when defining group and individual identities. There is a significant representation of ladino business owners and employees in the tourism industry among other occupations in Panajachel. However, most ladino presence in Panajachel occurs over the weekends when Guatemaltecos[3] come to the lake with their friends and families.
Panajachel boasts a significantly large group of resident expatriates. In Panajachel, these people have come from various regions around the world including Germany, Switzerland, France, South Africa, Canada, Holland, Argentina, Chile, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the United States of America. In many cases, Panajachel’s expatriates have been in town since recently after the end of the Civil War which, among many pull factors, brought a greater sense of local security and opportunities for foreigners to live frugally. Many of these residents have had a significant impact on the activities and development of Panajachel (Finewood, 2002).
For the purposes of my research, I was also able to subcategorize members of the resident population. I differentiated between those involved in the formal waste management activities (by virtue of employment, interest, concern or otherwise), and those who were not involved in any type of formal waste management in Panajachel.
In addition to its resident population, Panajachel likely has a larger amount of visitors and tourists than any other location around the lake. Even when tourism is at its lowest (from April-July), Panajachel is flooded on weekends and national holidays by international and national tourists alike. Each population has a distinct visiting pattern. The concentration of international tourists ebbs and flows throughout the year, while national tourists tend to arrive only for a day or two on the weekends and national holidays.
Because of its proximity to the Pan-American highway that connects it to Guatemala City, Panajachel is often the location chosen for viewing Lake Atitlan, or as one Australian visiting from Guatemala City said, “Panajachel is like a gateway, you know? It’s a good entry point to other places around the lake”. Many people come to Panajachel and stay only a few hours in order to catch a lancha[4] to other explore other communities around the lake. Others stay a few days to capitalize on the variety of goods for sale along the main drag of Calle[5] Santander, and take in the illustrious nightlife.
Even though the first signs of tourism appeared during 1885 when Hotel Tzanjuyu was built (Petrich 1998:86 quoted in Ruiz et al, 2000:5), the development of tourism was really pronounced when the Civil War ended in 1996. This first hotel was, however, a forecast for the developments to come. It is apparent that things have changed by looking at the concentration of people working in different sectors of the economy, at least since the 1930s when anthropologist Sol Tax (1963) found that 95% of the region’s income came from traditional agriculture. A subsequent anthropologist to the region, Robert Hinshaw noted that by 1964, 50% of the population had already become involved with tourism (Hinshaw, 1975). Later in 1978, he found that 78% of Panajachel’s resident population relied on tourism. This indicated the beginning of a development that would change the sustenance of a region forever.
METHODOLOGY
Formal interviews
In order to achieve an understanding of how people approach the issue of trash in Panajachel, I considered it necessary to interview people who are directly involved in some form of waste management or conservation. I utilized the method of formal interviewing with this population for which I had a set of questions that varied depending on the person to whom I was speaking. I spoke with mayors from various towns, people in charge of on-going campaigns and programs, individuals that have initiated projects at the community level, and representatives from organizations dealing with conservation, waste management and environmental education.
These initial connections proved to be invaluable for the course of my research project as many people involved in waste management, education and advocacy tended to know other members of the same community with similar efforts, interests and causes. I was able to gather more informants from there, asking my initial contacts to suggest other people from whom I could get further information. In many cases, individuals were able to suggest people who knew more about one aspect of the topic than they did.
The information gleaned from this population proved necessary in order to get a good overview of the history of waste management in the region, and issues they currently face as decision-makers and leaders. The only drawback to this technique, however, is the representation of attitudes of those involved at ‘the top’ and in ‘the middle’ of waste management processes in Panajachel. Oftentimes, these people were the individuals who initiated, or spent their time promoting the importance of effective and formal waste management, and so their perceptions were prone to describing the frustrations and problems related to this topic. These informants are however, members of the greater Panajachelense community, and so I took their responses to be a valuable contribution and account of values and experiences encountered by members of their subcategory/community.
Informal interviews
I conducted various informal interviews that took the form of casual discussions and social interactions. Often I was able to make significant connections with people in restaurants, in the street and on the lanchas while in transit to and from classes and interviews in the various villages. This was a very effective way of obtaining data in regards to attitudes and perceptions of a random population, though it did have its own restrictions. Because of my inability to speak any of the local indigenous languages, it was not possible to obtain information about what non Spanish-speaking indigenous people thought about this topic. Specifically, participants in these discussions ranged from tourists to locals to authorities in the fields of environmental protection and waste management.
Cognitive Mapping
Cognitive mapping is defined as the process of “acquiring, forming, and maintaining spatial information and spatial knowledge” (Downs and Stea, 1973). Thus, as a research method, it can be used to understand how people conceptualize and understand their physical worlds. I used cognitive mapping to reach an understanding of whether trash collection was affected by the presence of tourism. I asked people to tell me where the cleanest parts and the dirtiest parts of town were. I only used this method in Panajachel. From the responses, I was able to obtain a good idea about which areas of Panajachel were considered by locals to be the cleanest and dirtiest. In this sense, cognitive mapping not only gave me an idea about how people perceive their town, but also in many cases how they assume other people to perceive it.
Free Listing and Pile Sorting
I completed a ‘free-listing and pile sorting’ activity in order to understand how people categorize different concepts related to basura and waste management. I created a collection of cards with a single word on each one and asked people to sort cards according to categories, which they thought, were associated to each other. For example, some words I employed for this activity included: recycle, garbage, public beach, empty coke bottle, stray dog. This was an effective way to understand what people associated with the idea of basura.
Participant observation
Systematic participant observation was a fundamental part of conducting my fieldwork and learning about local cultures of Panajachel. For six weeks, I lived with a family of five in one of Panajachel’s neighbourhoods: Barrio Jucanya. I shared food, sleeping areas, common space and stories with this local family, and was able to make connections with a broader part of the community as a result of their introductions and associations. Every morning I was able to interact in some way with Jucanya’s residents, by such activities as patronizing their businesses, kicking around a ball with their children, or greeting them in the street.
In Panajachel proper, it was more difficult to make contact with the local residents as a result of the concentration of tourism[6]. However, it was in the streets, at the docks and at the public beach in Panajachel that I was able to talk to tourists, interact with the street vendors and observe the behaviour and littering/clean-up activities of its occupants and municipal employees. By ‘taking in the scene,’ I was able to arrive at an experiential understanding of the local culture, common interactions and a variety of aspects of consumption, waste management and life in Panajachel.
The limitations of this inquiry are confined to time and language ability. During the six-week program, it was next to impossible to gather enough data to complete a full assessment of waste management issues in Panajachel. Nor was it possible to attain a comprehensive understanding of how Panajachel compares to other communities, though I believe this study to be a good starting point for learning about these issues in the region of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
AN HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN PANAJACHEL
Panajachel has the longest history of formal waste management and garbage recollection programs than any other community around Lake Atitlan. While Panajachelense residents have always had a need for managing their own waste, basura per se has only become an issue in the past fifteen to twenty years. This time period coincided with the increase of foreign residents and visitors, the arrival of industrial packaging and arguably new opinions and ideas for managing the community’s waste materials.
Formal Waste Management
in Panajachel
The first in a series of programs and facilities developed for solid waste management in Panajachel occurred in May 1988, with the private donation of a large Mercedes Benz garbage truck to the Municipality from the German-based Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), which translates as German Technical Cooperation. It is a government-owned corporation that aims to facilitate international cooperation, and “improve the living conditions and perspectives of people in developing and transition countries”. (http://www.gtz.de/unternehmen/english/ Accessed June 2002). This donation came about through action by Jurgen Katt, a German business owner and resident of Panajachel, who is also a member of the GTZ.
One year later, the Fundacion Atitlan was created
through the GTZ, and obtained official recognition by the municipal government
of Solola. The creation of Fundacion Atitlan facilitated the purchase of two
more garbage trucks in 1989. These smaller trucks could be used in residential
areas in Panajachel as they could more easily navigate the narrow lanes and
make tighter turns. In 1999, the Oficina de Agua y Limpia (the municipal
department that oversees garbage collection and water services[7])
was created at the Municipality, and two small pick up trucks were purchased to
continue building on municipal collection services. Today, the municipality
organizes formal garbage collection routes, employs a few dozens people to work
these routes and pick up garbage in lanes and along the sides of the main
streets along the tourism zone discussed further in the following
section of this paper.
For the most part, Panajachel is well serviced throughout the municipality. The municipal employees who operate the medium-sized garbage truck donated by foreign funds clean Panajachel's neighbourhoods regularly (once a week). In addition, there are individuals who comb the streets with rakes and large garbage drums on wheels.
In recent times, the Centro de Acopio has been created to collect and sort Panajachel’s recyclable materials. It is a program that has great potential to educate and create greater revenue for the municipality, but it is currently losing money due to high operating costs and low volumes of recycling materials being returned to the center. Swiss-born Ursula Bishoff, the director of the Centro de Acopio believes this to be an issue that can be resolved with better education programs. In addition, since recently determining that 70-80 per cent of Panajachelense household waste is organic, Ms. Bishoff believes teaching about composting would be a more appropriate approach to dealing with the volume of solid waste in Panajachel.
A variety of groups, including AMSCLAE[8], Vivamos Mejor, Amigos del Lago Atitlan, and the Associacion de Artesanos are active in current conservation activities and campaigns including areas of education, research, and impact assessment. Each group has varying foci, political motivation and means for funding which determine their eventual activities in the region. They are not comparable except in the sense that they have vested interest in conservation of Panajachel and the Lake Atitlan region. However effective these groups are in their respective domains and programs, they are not involved exclusively with trash and solid waste management issues in Panajachel, though their dedication to conservation and education programs are an asset to the Lake Atitlan region.
‘Old’ Methods, New
Problems: Traditional Waste Management and Industrial Materials
Before these ideas and formalized programs came to Panajachel, the type of garbage produced and the means by which they could be disposed directed the traditional methods for waste management. Today, garbage and litter has become a visual eyesore for many foreigners who visit the Lake Atitlan region. It is as customary for people to throw litter out of bus windows while in transit, as it is to see children drop plastic potato chip or snack bags on the ground as they walk home from school. In many cases, it is apparent that these actions have been borne out of habit. Luis Villalobos works for Vivamos Mejor, a non-governmental organization that deals with social development in the region of Lake Atitlan. He said that the prevalence of basura haphazardly thrown in public places is a problem that stems from cultural perceptions of trash. He used the example that fifty years ago, there were no plastic products, and people tended to just throw their unwanted (natural and organic) waste material onto their coffee plantations. He said that people are still accustomed to throwing the waste on their land and coffee plantations regardless of the ability of trash to decompose.
Today, coffee is grown in fincas[9] and parcelas[10], and people continue to throw their trash onto the coffee producing land. Villalobos said that if anyone were to go up to one of the fincas, they would notice an incredible amount of trash on the land. He also mentioned that today, more people are less likely to own land or fincas for coffee production. Urban development is also becoming more of a reality, and so combined; the old methods of waste management no longer work.
Juan Skinner, the director of AMSCLAE confirmed these statements by saying that one of the main problems encountered in Panajachel with regard to waste management (personal and municipal), was the usefulness of industrial materials, such as plastic, for everyday purposes. To illustrate his point, Mr. Skinner explained that women around the lake traditionally used clay jugs for carrying water. However, a few years ago, a plastic form of the jug (same size, same shape, same colour) was introduced to the market. This new jug was not popular and did not sell very well. Following that, the same jug was modified and a new pattern and colour was introduced (turquoise and white, with vertical stripes).
According to Mr. Skinner, the new artificially coloured jug sold so well, it was difficult to keep it on the shelves. Unfortunately, the increased use of heavy-duty plastic caused a problem for disposal, since when the clay jugs of the past broke, they were disposed of and they disintegrated naturally by way of the elements. However, when the plastic ones broke or were cracked, people continued to use them. This not only wasted water but increased labour, and when they were finally discarded, the same disposal methods for the clay jugs were used: the plastic jugs ended up on the side of the road and continue to lie there, unable to decay regardless of the elements (Skinner 2002, personal communication).
Another informant mentioned that the introduction of Q9.99 shops where lots of foreign goods are sold, especially plastic-based products, has contributed to the increased amount of non-biodegradable waste material in Panajachel. In North America, the equivalent to these shops are ‘Dollar Stores’ where a variety of cheap, imported products can be bought for a dollar or two. In general, industrially created products (with plastic based packaging) entered the Guatemalan market during the 70s and the 80s. A middle-aged gentleman in barrio Jucanya confirmed this information. He said that in the 1960s there was hardly any trash lying around on the ground, but during the 1980s, plastic bottles could be seen lying all around the countryside. He added that the appearance of store shelves today indicates this change, since when he was younger; there were no brightly coloured, shiny plastic packets that are now used for chips, candy and galletas[11]. All items were wrapped in sisal, bolsas de papel café (brown paper bags), and banana leaves –as cheese is wrapped and sold in many places today. He said that most of these materials were re-usable in the home, or they ended up on the land where they would decompose and contribute to the life cycle of the plants (resident, Barrio Jucanya, June 2002). During this time, there was no plastic to deal with, and people had already figured out uses for the old packaging materials. When plastic came along, he said there was little knowledge about what to do with it once it was no longer needed or desired.
The entrance of industrial packaging into the market through globalization and the ‘plastic revolution’ has aggravated a lot of the local and current problem with trash, since few facilities exist to manage it efficiently. Not only has the introduction of non-biodegradable waste altered the role and concept of garbage in Panajachel, but the average Panajachelense residents do not possess the knowledge or the desire to process these materials in a way that encourages sustainability. They continue to dispose of basura in habitual ways that imitate traditional methods of solid waste management. Unfortunately, these are methods that are not suitable for large quantities of inorganic waste.
The history of waste in Panajachel –from traditional management methods to current practices– offers the context for understanding today’s issues and obstacles, relationships and conditions. It is clear that formal waste management as it now appears was initially inspired and put into practice by select resident expatriates in Panajachel. Their involvement in this process stimulated further Municipal organization and dedication to programs including regulated garbage collection, operations of the Centro de Acopio, and awareness in the community that supported the creation of various conservation and education groups. Despite these efforts, current problems are being encountered where traditional methods are unable to properly dispose of industrial materials such as plastic used in various household materials and commercial packaging.
Foreign-based ideas and opinions with regard to waste management find synchronicity with Panajachel’s current economic base of tourism. Thus, current waste management programs, though they were initiated by foreigners (expatriates), function to benefit the local economy by catering to yet more foreigners (international tourists) in Panajachel.
TOURISM AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
There are three significant realities imposed on Panajachel by virtue of its tourist-based economy. First, not only does tourism demand services such as waste removal and management, but tourists notice garbage in ways that many non-foreign locals do not. Second, waste management and collection programs cater to tourism in ways that satisfy foreign values of cleanliness and order. Third, tourists bring and produce inordinate amounts of garbage. These three ideas are intricately linked and dependent on conditions set up by cycling tourist expectations and tourist values.
1. The ‘Tourist Gaze[12]’: Expectations and ‘Foreign’ Standards
The implications for Panajachel as a tourist destination are significant when considering the issue of waste management. In order to support its continuous flow of national and international guests, Panajachel is not only required to develop infrastructure and offer such services as clean water, heating and shelter, but it is also required to provide the means for managing the garbage produced by the heavily consumptive community of international tourists it attracts. This is a feat that places a lot of pressure on local resources and programs.
Panajachel is also subject to standards set indirectly by the tourists themselves –its success as a host environment relies on approval from international tourists. Because tourists carry the money that eventually enters into the local economy, Panajachelense stakeholders cater to the growing market by fulfilling needs, desires and expectations.
There is a belief held by international tourists that public places are to be kept neat and clean. Amanda[13] was a tourist from Flint, Michigan. Her idea of a good travel- destination point was one that had “little visible trash in public areas”. She liked that the main streets in Panajachel appeared to be cleaned on a regular basis, and said that there was a lot less litter in Panajachel than in other parts of Guatemala (Tourist Survey June 3, 4, 5, 2002). In addition, many residents of different municipios around Lake Atitlan stated that Panajachel is significantly cleaner than many other communities as a result of their resources and organized programs.
In contrast, many tourists with whom I discussed the issue of garbage in Panajachel remarked on the incredible amount of litter “everywhere”. During my interview with Juan Skinner, I was told that the issue of trash is an interesting one, especially in this region as it relates to tourism. He said that trash tends to be the “most visible to tourists, but the least visible to the locals” (Skinner 2002, personal communication).
An American tourist who had already spent a few days in Panajachel before we spoke said that he was “curious to find out why [garbage] was just left on the ground or in the bushes –especially in a place like Panajachel which so obviously relies on tourism” for its economic sustenance. He said that if he sees a place with litter all over it, he “doesn’t want to go there ever again” (tourist, Panajachel, June 2002). This has consequences for Panajachel’s economy, as it indicates a cultural perspective and personal preference that has the power to direct capital.
The current mayor, Professor Enio Urizar, is aware of this reality, and says that the visual pollution of Calle Santander is an issue for him and the current municipal administration. In a formal interview, he stated that the street vista and ambiente visual (visual environment) of Panajachel to tourists is very important, which is why there are people who clean it up every day (Urizar 2002, personal communication). In accordance with these findings, a local business owner and resident expatriate commented during an interview that the current municipal administration is most interested in activities that have perceivable results. In his words, these include “activities and actions that have perceivable change for the better” (restaurant owner, Panajachel, June 2002). He says that the municipality is likely to support things that overtly demonstrate to the public that they are doing their job. In this sense, ‘the environment’ becomes a political force that can direct capital as well as the way people think and act.
2. The Tourism Zone
Politics, money and the municipal services available to Panajachelense residents and visitors are largely dependent on the tourist agenda. This extends to the ways in which Panajachel is kept clean by Municipal programs. By employing the method of cognitive mapping (explained in the methodology section above), I was able to establish that Panajachel has a tourism zone in which spaces are kept exceptionally clean and tidy –especially in comparison to other regions of the municipality. This tourism zone is obvious to anyone living in Panajachel. It is the same region in which all the bars, restaurants, boutiques and vending stalls are located. It stretches from halfway up Calle de los Arboles down to Calle Real (Calle Principal), and all the way down Calle Santander to the waterfront.
This ‘zone’ is clearly an area that caters to the commercial needs and demands of the tourist population. According to Reponses from the cognitive mapping exercise, it is clear that this is also a ‘cleanliness zone’, where it is apparent that trash collection is affected by the presence of tourism. All of the respondents included Calle Santander in their answer for the cleanest places in Panajachel. Other responses included ‘hotels and restaurants’, Calle Principal and ‘in front of the municipalidad’. When asked about the dirtiest places in Panajachel, responses varied from the indigenous market, callejones[14], and clandestine dumping grounds in various areas of the town’s neighbourhoods.
Panajachel has a variety of ‘environmental’ profiles, specifically related to the aesthetics of the visual environment. From the neighbourhoods and residential areas to places that have evolved into regions dubbed for tourism, the variety is startling and the disparity between people is often shockingly obvious. The most astonishing are the evident differences between the residential areas and spaces occupied by and used to accommodate tourists. Despite the newly focused attention to cleaning up the residential areas in Panajachel (such as Barrio Norte and Barrio Jucanya), the tourism zone is certainly a higher cleanliness priority. It is still likely to see litter lining the streets of the barrios, where household and street waste such as rotting food scraps, plastic and cardboard packaging material and dog excrement form the majority of the eyesore. This sight is uncommon where crowds of people walk along Calle Santander between the lake and the barrage of vending stalls where all types of goods including textiles, jewelry, crafts, clothing, leather sandals and more, are profusely displayed along the street.
3. Tourists = Garbage
Tourists are critical of their immediate aesthetic environment. However, they are not distanced and separated from the local issue of waste management. Ironically, tourists also contribute to the immediate problem since they bring and produce a lot of garbage. I asked Sr. Katt, from the Fundacion Atitlan if the influx of tourism has had an effect on garbage collection in Panajachel. He has lived in Panajachel for the past fifteen years, during which time he has been very involved with formal waste management processes. He said that tourism has certainly increased the amount of garbage that was produced, remarking that before tourism was a real force, Panajachel only produced 3 tons of garbage per day. After 1996, when infrastructure was improved and hotels and restaurants started multiplying, Panajachel produced 10 tons of garbage per day (Katt 2002, personal communication).
A common response to whether the arrival of tourists has had an impact on the quantity of garbage produced by Panajachel was definitely affirmative. Often people commented on the “problem caused over weekends when national tourists visit Panajachel and leave garbage everywhere” (Bishoff 2002, personal communication). This response was a commonly identified issue by Panajachel residents including teachers, business owners, and a handful of people I asked on the street. This same informant said that tourists produce the most amount of garbage in Panajachel as indicated by the amount of waste produced by the restaurants. Tourists and resident expatriates appear to be the exclusive clientele of these restaurants.
Tourists, and the trend of Globalization which they have come to represent, have also had an impact on the ‘quality’ of garbage. In the past fifteen years, Panajachel has had to contend with a dramatic increase of imported materials such as plastics, used in bottles, and snack food packaging such as potato chips, and packages galletas. The director of the Oficina de Agua y Limpieza said that there are a lot of things that tourists will not buy in Panajachel including food, drinks and personal care items such as shampoo. They bring in their own supplies which results in ‘imported waste.’ This has increased the pressure on waste management programs organized through the Municipality and otherwise.
The development of tourism in Panajachel has heightened the need for waste management programs due to demand for services. The tourist gaze, defines a way of seeing and understanding the places they visit, and largely determines the image expected of destination sites. In many cases, international tourists carry values and expectations from home around with them, imposing a type of acceptance scale against which these locations are judged. The city’s clean up programs have accommodated tourists’ values by focusing on areas scrutinized by the most critical eye, and developing services that cater to regions frequented by tourists. In this sense, municipal politics and resource allocation are largely directed by the town’s economic dependency on tourism. While they are critics of the trash problem, they are also perpetrators. Tourism also causes and imports a substantial amount of garbage, whose volumes are becoming increasingly difficult to manage with the current programs and services in Panajachel.
ISSUES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR A RESIDENT POPULATION
Due to the physicality and visual nature of trash, it is simple to associate its problems with the industry of tourism, which is fickle, superficial and highly unpredictable. Tourists arrive at a place to ‘see things’. If they are not up to standard or expectation, they have the option to leave and never return. What about those who do not have this option? What about the people who live in Panajachel? What do they think about basura? What are the larger issues involved and how are they different from trash issues observed through the lens of tourism? While most of these questions cannot be addressed in this paper, the most pressing issues concern health and hygiene, education and economics.
Health and Hygiene
There are much graver issues at stake for local inhabitants than foreign expectations and the superficiality of aesthetic appeal. Improper disposal of garbage also results in the contamination of ground water and high rates of illness and disease. Despite the formal programs in place, clandestine dumping grounds continue to emerge and spread in areas near peoples’ homesteads and water supplies. In fact, the municipality dedicates every Thursday to seeking out these spaces and cleaning them up. This activity is largely unsuccessful, as many of these areas are on private properties and down small lanes that are difficult to service with current equipment and human resources (Urizar 2002, personal communication).
Where garbage is disposed of ‘correctly’, the facilities do not exist to avoid concentration of toxins and vectors for disease. According to an informant who owns a scuba-diving operation on the lake, this problem culminates during the rainy season, from May to September. She said that people always get sick at this time of the year indicated by incidents of illness and death due to such diseases as cholera and typhoid. These illnesses are largely caused by consumption of contaminated water. Health and hygiene are clearly significant and pressing issues related to solid waste management in Panajachel, and around Lake Atitlan in general.
Education and Economics
Many people interviewed remarked that lack of education in the general Panajachelense population was one of the largest problems. They said that the majority of the population does not understand that what they are throwing on the ground can cause future problems for their personal and environmental health. A similar difficulty is encountered at many of the schools where some teachers are perceived as resistant to instructing the children in conservation issues, pursuing environmental education or teaching about proper waste management and hygiene. After discussing this issue with various people responsible for education programs and conservation initiatives, the common explanation described the traditional waste management methods employed by Lake Atitlan residents. In accordance with what people remembered from their childhoods, they said that behaviour had changed very little. “It’s part of a local culture,” one woman said, arguing that habits of throwing trash in the street or dumping their waste on the neighbour’s finca for a long time became an ingrained and an accepted part of individual waste management practices.
One woman, an expatriate with European upbringing said “They don’t think about tomorrow. It’s in their mentality to do what they have to do for today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.” (Resident expatriate, Panajachel, June 2002). Along a similar vein, another woman interviewed said, “To them, basura doesn’t constitute something worth worrying about. In many cases, they’re more concerned about feeding their children” (business owner, Panajachel, June 2002). Both perspectives point to the common reality of poverty within the larger community. It is less likely that people who are struggling to make ends meet or feed their families, would pay more attention to environmental education or planning for the next generation’s future. They are too busy ensuring that their immediate needs will be met.
Similarly, representatives of the municipal Oficina de Agua y Limpieza expressed adamant frustration with the people who refused to pay the monthly fee for water and garbage collection. These people cost the municipality a lot of money, since instead of paying for this service, many of them collect their own water from the lake and dump their own garbage at night in clandestine sites – neighbours’ properties, public areas, ravines and cliff edges – free of charge. This cycle continues as people realize that the municipality carries on cleaning up these clandestine sites regardless of whether the service is paid for or not. The frugality of these actions serve those who cannot afford or refuse to pay for municipal services, but cost the Municipality a lot in wages, and lost revenue.
Additionally, garbage operates as a status symbol in Panajachel. In many cases, items such as shampoo, perfume and large soft drink bottles are expensive to purchase. Juan Skinner related a story of a household that would steal such garbage from a wealthier family and casually display it outside the front of their house. This family wanted the community to believe that they could afford to produce such ‘expensive garbage’, and thereby contribute to their socio-economic status within the community (Skinner 2002, personal communication). Thus, garbage when used in a certain manner, can function as a further symbol of dire economic conditions, where people must display other peoples’ waste products to prove their worth.
It is clear that basura is not just an issue of
aesthetics. It has very significant consequences for the population of
Panajachel including the risk of illness and disease as a result of improper
disposal, and the absence of facilities necessary for certain types of waste
processing. Limited education concerning proper waste management plays a
significant role in this sense as well. Where people lack the knowledge, they
are less likely to observe the importance of contributing or participating in
such processes as formal waste management that relies on their personal and
financial commitment. Economics thus are inexorably tied to this process. If
people cannot afford to participate in the process, individual services and
needs are compromised, as are the long-term successes of the programs, since
they require cooperation from all community members. Similarly, if displaying
garbage in public operates as a means for developing social status,
implementing programs to clean it up is certainly counter-productive to
servicing local culture.
Foreign residents and
visitors: A New Colonialism?
Much like my first impressions based on observing Panajachelense children playing with garbage, foreigners have brought with them their ideas about hygiene, waste, and how to manage them. However, it is important to remember that different forms of waste management existed before the arrival of foreign residents and visitors. The people of Panajachel have always solved their own problems of waste disposal in some way or another.
Because significant formal services and programs were initiated and, for the most part, continue to be directed by foreigners, there is an assumption among resident
expatriates that their effect on the local garbage, recyclables collection and educational
programs are an improvement on what existed before. This may certainly be the case in terms of disease control and management of industrial materials –ironically produced and exported in mass quantities from the original birthplaces of Panajachel’s resident expatriates–, but it oversees the possibility that solutions can continue to come from within, from traditional practices. This is not to say that other residents are not concerned or affected, nor does mean that they need the services any less. Rather, that these ideas and processes from other parts of the (‘developed’) world have found their way into the small town of Panajachel.
This analysis comes dangerously close to a colonial model where foreign ideas and systems for controlling local processes take over traditional methods. In Panajachel, the changes that have come to pass reflect this deference to foreign-based ideas and expectations for waste management. While this may ultimately serve to benefit the community as a whole, it is risky to assume that programs that solve problems in the ‘developed’ world will have the same application in places like Panajachel where levels of education, the economy base and cultural values differ enormously.
The intention of this paper is not to discredit the dedication, organization and good intentions of a hard working minority. However, the findings of this research point to the potential volatility of current approaches. It is unlikely that these systems or programs will be sustainable, since very few community members are stakeholders in the current formal processes, meaning that they possess neither common cultural value nor economic incentive. The irony within is that waste management itself is an occupation that attempts to ensure sustainability –that current needs (garbage removal and litter control) are being met without compromising the needs of the future (human and environmental health).
CONCLUSION
There are clearly a variety of perspectives and values, economic capacities and agendas for solid waste management in Panajachel. Of the people interviewed, those who expressed concern about the ‘garbage problem’ were resident expatriates who considered Panajachel’s garbage situation to be in serious need of development and improvement. From an alternate perspective, Panajachel has the most sophisticated level of service than any other community around Lake Atitlan. This can be directly attributed to the large population of expatriates and similarly the concentration of foreign tourists who are known to have similar values and expectations. Well-meaning expatriates have certainly made their mark on Panajachel.
Solid waste management methods in Panajachel are wedged between two cultural systems. One side sees little wrong with the methods they have chosen for dealing with their waste, whereas the other side criticizes these actions, believing their answers and methods to represent a better solution for all residents. While benefits and explanations exist for both sides, neither approach offers a sustainable way to manage Panajachel’s waste efficiently. With the influx of new materials, new ideas and greater expectations for cleanliness, these traditional methods are being slowly replaced by programs designed and implemented by and for Panajachel’s foreigners. The majority of the people interviewed stated that the history of waste management methods such as disposing of natural and organic waste in fields and fincas have conditioned local behaviour. It has also shaped the current conditions that cause frustration among those implementing incipient programs.
Tourism is further complicating the issue. The location and quality of service is determined by tourist expectation and demand, and tourists also create more waste for the municipality to manage. In addition, the economic aspect of tourism ensures that political decisions in regards to community services are made with profit as the focus, rather than focusing on the actual needs of Panajachel’s long-term residents. The problem is that waste management is not (and should not be) just about tourist dollars. Further implications of insufficient garbage control are related to the health effects of disease and life-threatening illnesses such as cholera and typhoid.
Solutions for dealing with the universal occupation of waste management are clearly hard to come by. While Panajachel serves in many ways as an example for other Lake communities in this domain, it continues to struggle with issues and conditions set by its economic base and diverse population reflected by conflicting expectations and values.
This paper has discussed the issue of basura in relation to Panajachel’s history of waste management: from traditional methods to new formal programs, and has highlighted the influence of foreigners on this process. From resident expatriates to the growing tourism population, garbage management in Panajachel continues to be directed towards the foreign agenda and invites discussion for issues, consequences and effects on the larger Panajachelense population for years to come.
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[1] Basura directly translated from Spanish means ‘garbage’. Where basura is used in this paper, it refers to all words such as ‘trash’, ‘garbage’, ‘litter’, ‘waste’, etc. I have chosen to use this as an all-inclusive term, since the same variety of words in the English language do not have equivalent words in Spanish in this part of the world.
[2]The language of Kaqchikel can be found written in many different ways, but I have chosen to write it this way because of the frequency of its use in this form.
[3] Guatemalteco refers to someone from the country of Guatemala, although it is used more predominantly to describe someone who comes from Guatemala City.
[4] A lancha is a small, motorized boat used for private and public transport to the various towns around Lake Atitlan.
[5] Calle –street, road.
[6] It took at least three weeks for many of the vendors to realize that I was not a tourist. It was relatively difficult for locals to distinguish between me and other tourists walking through the town, as many tourists were young, Caucasian English-speakers like myself. By the end of my six weeks in Panajachel, a handful of expatriates were greeting me by name.
[7] Residents of Panajachel must pay a certain amount (currently Q30.00, or Thirty Quetzals) per month for water. This service includes garbage pickup. At the time of writing, Q7.80 is equal to $1.00 USD.
[8] AMSCLAE (Autoridad para el Manejo Sustenable de la Cuenca del Lago Atitlan y su Entorno), the Lake Atitlan Environmental Authority, is the only de-centralized conservation-based governmental organization in Guatemala.
[9]A finca is a privately owned coffee plantation.
[10]A parcela is a small plot of land used for growing coffee. In many towns and urban environments, they may be found between homesteads and along small pedestrian streets.
[11] Galleta –cookie, biscuit, cracker
[12] Anthropologist John Urry (1990) uses the idea of the tourist gaze to refer to the ways in which tourists see their host communities.
[13] All informants’ names, where necessary, have been changed in order to insure anonymity.
[14] Callejones-plural, Spanish word for lane or alleyway.