It seems to be a symbol of my region, sadly. Large amounts of garbage on the main streets, parks, and forests of Huancayo show one of the major issues that Huancayo is currently facing: soil pollution.

Inadequate garbage management by authorities and lack of environmental education are the main causes of soil pollution in my region, which is affecting many ecosystems and public health.

Garbage trucks that do not go through all the streets, much less the remote areas of the city, reflect how backward the garbage collection system is in Huancayo and how forgotten many farmers and miners who generally live in the mountains and remote areas of Huancayo due to their jobs are. As a result, many of the residents throw their garbage in the streets, forests, and rivers without thinking or perhaps without knowing the great damage that all this waste causes to the environment and their own health.

Every Monday, I experience this problem first hand. The garbage truck in my district does not go through all the streets, so many of my neighbors leave their rubbish bags in front of my house, where the garbage truck does stop to pick up the garbage during the afternoon. Unfortunately, there are many stray dogs in my district that tear up the rubbish bags in search of food and spread the garbage around my house and on the road creating dangerous infectious sources for all the neighbors. I have made many efforts to avoid this problem, including talking to neighbors to put out their rubbish bags only minutes before the garbage truck shows up and chasing away stray dogs whenever I can. The municipality even put up a sign above my front door that says "no littering, subject to penalty”. But none of these efforts paid off, unfortunately. On the contrary, it seems that the problem got worse, as my neighbors not only leave rubbish bags in front of my house on Mondays, but also on other days of the week. I have no choice but to store these bags at home every chance I get until next Monday. 

Rubbish bags in front of my house

Just as it happens in the streets, this problem also happens in the forests of my region causing serious damage to animals and plants. For example, many cows that graze near the forests tend to eat the garbage thrown and many times plastic bags, which triggers their subsequent death. In addition, this garbage alters the physical and chemical properties and fertility of the soil, preventing the growth of plants and trees. 

Cows eating plastic bags

Trash in forests

It is of paramount importance that the authorities increase the number of routes of the waste collection truck so that neighbors do not continue to throw their garbage in the streets or in the forests of my region. Also, a key factor in reducing this problem is to invest in environmental education for residents. Only in this way, this problem will be avoided in the future.