In July 2003 EMLA (Environmental
Management and Law Association) and HuMuSz started a “watchdog”
project whose aim was to help people’s participation in making
decisions regarding waste management.
"Summer was raving. At the beginning
of July the more well-to-do Hungarian civilians tried to survive the
heat on the Balear Islands, while the poorer ones chose Margaret
Island (Margitsziget, in Budapest) or one of the lidos. We, however,
organised a two-day trip to the Container Islands that is that in the
recently finished HuMuSz house we held a forum about the questions of
selective waste management and its recycling."
In the field of recycling Hungary is far from the international
standard. In 2000 30% of the non- hazardous waste and 20% of
hazardous waste were recycled in the industry. In spite of the
appearance of new technologies, only a small percentage of the
industrial waste, disposed earlier, becomes recycled. Yet, a
significant part of waste would be suitable for recycling. Owing to
the regulations and sources of the European Union in the past few
years more and more selective collection programs have set off. This
could give us joy, but we have some anxiety in this case (too).
Today it might sound
unbelievable that our grandparents didn’t use combined packaging to
store ultrapasteurized and „hiperhomogenized” milk in and they
survived somehow..."
HuMuSz
has been telling for ten years that waste problem cannot be solved by
waste disposal, moreover waste recovery is not the real solution
either. Only waste prevention can solve the problem. Durable and
reusable products should be made while one-way products must be
replaced wherever they can be. We should buy less and buy only really
indispensable things; we should use products for longer time; we
should repair our tools whenever we can. The shopping mall products
and throw-aways dropped into our letter-boxes shouldn’t rule our
lives.