美国国家公共电台 NPR After Maria, Puerto Rico Struggles Under The Weight Of Its Own Garbage

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Puerto Rico is struggling with too much trash. Even before Hurricane Maria hit most of the island's landfills were filled beyond capacity. And the debris¹ and waste from the hurricane have only made the problem worse. NPR's Merrit Kennedy reports.

MERRIT KENNEDY, BYLINE²: Outside the capital, San Juan, a suburban³ soccer field has been transformed into an improvised⁴ dump site. Bleachers peek⁵ out from the edge of the trash.

Trucks are rolling in. They're filled with debris, tree branches, moldy⁶ mattresses⁷. I can see a pink kid's suitcase being unloaded onto a massive pile of garbage in the center of the field. And it's probably about three stories high.

Workmen say this site came to be because the actual landfill is so busy. The wait time can be hours. Just up the road, 25-year-old Lionel Ruiz is the supervisor⁸ of that municipal landfill in Toa Baja. He says that last month, they accepted 36,000 tons of waste. That's 70 percent more than the month before the hurricane. Ruiz points to the trucks waiting to dump.

LIONEL RUIZ: It's more busy that usual. You see that line? We never have that line in normal operation.

KENNEDY: Trash from at least four municipalities comes to the landfill, and it already had huge problems before the hurricane. In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered it to close because of environmental risks. Since then, the landfill was allowed to open a new area with a lining⁹ to prevent seepage¹⁰ into the ground. But that space is rapidly filling up.

RUIZ: It's near to get full maybe in five year.

KENNEDY: That was Ruiz's estimate before the hurricane, and Maria has sped up the timeline. The story is the same across the lush tropical island of Puerto Rico. Before the hurricane, the EPA had ordered 12 of its approximately 29 landfills to close.

AGUSTIN CARBO: It's a public health issue. And it's about to collapse¹¹ really soon.

KENNEDY: That's Agustin Carbo. He's the former head of the island's Solid Waste Authority and says Puerto Rico needs to think beyond landfills rather than open new ones. Recycling rates here are about half of what they are on the U.S. mainland.

CARBO: We need to look for different alternatives. I think people need to change their behavior. And it's quite complex how you change that in a small island. But it can be done. People need to understand what's at stake here.

KENNEDY: Back at the landfill, Ruiz is facing very immediate¹² problems. Birds and insects circle around what is currently a hot, rancid open dump.

RUIZ: This is the active area of the landfill. You will see a lot of uncovered material.

KENNEDY: Workers here would normally cover this expansive mess with earth every day to comply with federal regulations. Ruiz says they haven't been able to for a week because the private trucks they usually use are contracted with FEMA. The open garbage is upsetting to people who live down the hill, like 83-year-old Angelo Fernandez.

ANGELO FERNANDEZ: The smell. The stink¹³ (laughter).

KENNEDY: In his 41 years living here, he's seen a mountain rise from the ground.

FERNANDEZ: It is getting bigger. It is getting bigger and bigger. That was never this high - never. All the mountains you see there, that's garbage.

KENNEDY: What would it mean to you if it closed?

FERNANDEZ: I think it would be a better place to live. I know. And people, they would get less sick.

KENNEDY: The landfill may be filling up, but it's not clear when it will actually shut down. The EPA hasn't set a hard date. Merrit Kennedy, NPR News, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.

1 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

4 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

5 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

6 moldy   

adj.发霉的

参考例句：

• She chucked the moldy potatoes in the dustbin.她把发霉的土豆扔进垃圾箱。
• Oranges can be kept for a long time without going moldy.橙子可以存放很长时间而不腐烂。

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

9 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

10 seepage   

n.泄漏

参考例句：

• Chemical seepage has caused untold damage.化学品泄漏已造成不可估量的损失。
• Water gradually escapes by seepage through the ground.水逐渐从地面渗走了。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

13 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。