June 3, 2015

Dutchman declared ‘persona non grata’ in the Philippines

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 10:07 pm

giro_trash

Dutchman Kees Koostra (possibly Jan Kees Koostra) who has been living in Puerto Galera, the Philippines for some time has called his new home town ‘Puerto Basura’ (roughly ‘Puerto Rubbish’) after having posted a picture of the local tourist destination White Beach with “uncollected garbage contained in black plastic bags, with worms crawling on them” on Facebook. Appealing to the local authorities to do something about it, they instead decided to black ball him for his concerns, a move that surprised locals and foreigners alike. Koostra is locally active in tourism and environment-related projects.

Since Koostra’s post, the shorelines of White Beach have been cleaned up by the municipal government. The Puerto Galera Business and Tourism Entrepreneurs Association (PGBTEA) and other groups also expressed their support for Koostra, saying the decision is unfair. “He is a law-abiding citizen and he was just expressing his constructive comments on the present state of the environment of Puerto Galera.”

Koostra has sailed around the world twice in his own yacht. “Out of the 68 countries I travelled, I chose the Philippines to live in permanently. And I chose Puerto Galera to stay,” Koostra said.

(Link: manilastandardtoday.com)

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March 13, 2015

Dutch town asks locals to adopt dustbins

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 10:04 am

Pumerend, the town with the owl attacking everyone, has more worries on its hands: their budget for dustbins. Having decided to remove 431 of the 1011 dustbins to save 150,000 euro on emptying them, Pumerend is asking its residents to adopt dustbins so that they can stay in place.

Adopting a dustbin isn’t code for paying for it to stay in place while already paying for rubbish removal, that would be crazy talk. It means emptying on a regular basis, picking up any rubbish within a five meter radius, cleaning it, removing any stickers on it and a few other things you can read about in Dutch.

(Link: nieuws.nl)

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May 29, 2013

Trash bags in Amsterdam get their own Facebook page

Filed under: General,Online by Orangemaster @ 10:19 am

Following the trend of protesting or trying to shed light on issues by setting up a Facebook page, a resident of Amsterdam’s De Pijp district who lives on the Van der Helstplein (Van der Helst square) has had enough of the heaps of trash accumulating there and has set up a Facebook page called Van der Helst-belt.

The square is full of restaurants and cafes, which would explain the preponderance of trash, but not why it isn’t picked up often enough or on time. The other problem is that people tend to put out their trash every day, which goes against the rules of that area.

Trash is a complicated business in Dutch cities. In Nijmegen for example, unless it has changed recently, residents pay extra money to use city-approved trash bags, which you buy at the regular store, so basically you pay for what you throw out. In places like Amsterdam, you pay a flat fee per year depending on the make-up of your household. In my co-blogger ultraposh neighbourhood it’s a Wednesday-Saturday affair, while in my lesser yet decent part of town, I can go across the street anytime and put it in one of the three underground bins.

(Link: www.rtvnh.nl)

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January 12, 2013

Transparent trash bag for reusable garbage

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 11:35 am

Have you ever hesitated to throw something in the trash because although you personally no longer had any use for it, it was still usable?

The incentive prize of the 2010 Dutch Design Awards was won by Waarmaker’s Simon Akkaya and his Goedzak, a transparent bag that you can use to put usable things out with the rest of the trash. Since it is transparent and has a bright yellow band, it should immediately draw the attention of any passer-by.

Not that lack of attention seems to be that much of a problem. In my experience when I have to throw away something like an old keyboard or tennis racket I just wait for a dry night and then put it out in the street by itself. The good stuff gets picked up in no time.

The name Goedzak, literally ‘good bag’, is a pun because it also means ‘kindly person’.

(Photo: degoedzak.nl. Link: Bright and Pop-Up City)

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April 25, 2011

Modern still lifes by Richard Kuiper

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 10:54 am

Behold this 17th century painting, the delightful play of dark and light. Except it is not a painting, or even from the 17th century, as Hans Aarsman points out:

Look carefully now. Doesn’t the dark grey tablecloth look remotely familiar? It’s a plastic bin bag, just torn from the roll, the folds unmistakably plastic bin bag folds. The plates are made of plastic too. The lemon, the cans, everything is made of plastic. Close examination will reveal the casting seams. The fish is inflatable.

This doesn’t celebrate the old, it celebrates the here and now.

(Photo: Richard Kuiper)

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