Pollution in Costa Rica, according to environmental analysts, is directly related to the consumption pattern of Costa Ricans. In view of the fact that the way of consuming and producing of the citizens of Costa Rica favors the contamination of that country. In order to solve this situation, all the actors in society have to be part of a change towards a more sustainable pattern of consumption.
Pollution in Costa Rica
The demand for goods and services by Costa Rican society has had a negative impact on the natural resources of that nation, with the consequence that the "ecological footprint" generated by the Costa Rican citizen, is in the order of more than 8% of the ability to regenerate the natural resources of that nation.
According to data provided in the First State of the Environment Report in 2017, the exploitation of natural resources to produce goods and services for the consumption of Costa Ricans has led to environmental problems such as pollution, an increase in ordinary and toxic waste, and also the loss of these natural resources and decrease in biological diversity.
Due to this, the highest environmental authority of Costa Rica reported that that country reports an environmental deficit caused by the current consumption model and, to solve this deficit, all the sectors that make life in Costa Rica and that are related to the environmental problems, directly and indirectly.
Active participation by citizens to generate a change in behavior in the way they consume the goods offered to society is important. This change is increasingly essential and has to be established in an integral way in the different sectors that make life in the country, in order to solve in a planned and coordinated way the problems of overexploitation of natural resources and waste management. .
The Consumption of Goods and Services
All people have different reasons for consuming the products and services they offer in the economic market, in some cases they are reasoned factors in which criteria related to the cost of the products, their quality, usefulness, among other characteristics, are taken into account. Similarly, other consumers take into account characteristics related to health, well-being, as well as their contribution to society.
These products made taking into account their contribution to society, such as organic products, are generally purchased by young people with greater purchasing power, because their costs are more expensive. In addition, of the previous conditioning factors that play an important role when consuming, the emotional aspect that intervenes unconsciously must also be taken into account.
According to the psychologist Amarillys Quiroz R, specialized in consumer research, there are factors that affect consumers unconsciously, which are emotional and sensory aspects, which are linked to their affinities and aspirations, as well as their personality. Just as these internal factors act, external factors also intervene that encourage the acquisition of goods and services in an uncontrolled way, through the marketing of products, advertising messages, social networks and all other mechanisms created to consume and substitute.
Due to this, becoming an educated and committed consumer leads to being clear about how each consumer can be an agent of change, for this reason they must be clear about what is involved in the action of consuming and, in addition, wanting to be part of the change. of attitude. The action of consuming is driven between 85 to 90% by unconscious components and only 10% is related to marketing information.
Conscious Consumption
This means that at the moment of acquiring some good one has to be aware of the reason why? acquire a certain good and, if you really need to acquire, for example a new cell phone, a pair of fashionable shoes, food in a particular place, cleaning products. However, for this, consumers have to become aware of the dynamics of how consumption affects the protection of the environment and also an adequate management of their commercial and financial intelligence.
Above all because at the moment that society is inserted into an economic cycle of extracting, manufacturing, consuming and substituting. This production cycle is based on the exploitation of natural resources to produce goods and services, which are offered under obsolescence planning, and replaced by new models in a short period of time. Resulting in frequent consumption, continuous economic growth and increasing environmental pollution.
This dynamic of producing goods within obsolescence planning can be easily observed in the fashion and technology industry, with the frequent updating of, for example, computers, televisions and cell phones. In the fashion industry, it can be seen that a large number of clothes are manufactured quite cheaply, due to the cost of cheap labor from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and India.
This means that consumers go to large clothing chains where they buy them at very low prices, which allow them to consume fairly cheap and low-quality clothing that is quickly replaced. Being able to educate citizens to become people who consume consciously implies curbing the unnecessary consumption of products and acquiring those goods that they really need, and resuming old traditions such as buying what is really necessary and repairing and reusing the objects.
Likewise, this type of conscious consumption also implies recycling the products that are going to stop being used, this will allow the discarded goods to return to a new production cycle and in turn contribute to less environmental pollution. In addition, recycling is a productive process that would be part of this small circular economy in which anyone can participate. Which implies that the first step is to reduce the consumption of goods and services.
For this, it is suggested that before buying ask yourself, do you really need to buy it? If the answer is NO, then you already know that you do not need to buy it. On the contrary, if the answer is YES, then other questions have to be asked: Will it be a durable product? What other use can I give it? Is it feasible to recycle it? What will be the safest way to discard it?
Circular Economy
If a comprehensive project is carried out in which citizens and industries participate, aware of the negative impact on the environment caused by their actions, strategies of a circular economy can be applied, in which it is sought that the value of goods and services, as well as of resources remain for a longer period of time within the economy and waste is minimized. During this type of projects, the steps of repairing, recycling, reusing and remanufacturing the consumer goods would be carried out.
When a circular economy project is implemented, the products obtained from the exploitation of natural resources can be reintegrated into the production system, with the aim that the waste impact the environment as little as possible. According to what was reported by the UN Environment, establishing a circular economy is possible to reduce between 80% to 99% of waste coming from industries and between 79 to 99% of its emissions.
Costa Rica has a main problem to solve to reduce its negative impact on the environment, given that the technology with which it works and the processing of solid and liquid waste is obsolete, as in other Latin American countries. In countries with advanced technology, waste is used to compact land and establish roads and parks, produce electricity, as well as other projects and make the most of this residual matter.
Green Makeup
To transform and work under the scheme of a circular economy, Costa Rican consumers have to change their consumption habits and also their ability to recycle or reuse purchased products. To achieve these, you have to go through an awareness process and present them with truthful and reliable information. However, in the Costa Rican market at the moment, some products are handled and offered with confusing or false information regarding their properties that contribute to the environment, what they call "green makeup" and, of which the consumer You have to take care of yourself.
However, because buyers do not have a partial verification, they do not have the option of verifying how true the information on the environmental quality of the products is. This complicates making the right decisions. To solve this situation, in Costa Rica as of 2019, it began to have environmental and energy labels to guide and inform citizens about the quality and their environmental contribution of those goods and services that they are going to acquire.
Previously, this program may have had a consumer awareness phase, with the aim of informing about the veracity of the information on the new environmental labels. Depending on how informed the consumer is about the importance of environmental conservation and the veracity of the information presented in the previously marked products, consumers will select a certain good and service, rejecting those less reliable.
Since there is an offer of products with environmental labels, environmental technicians consider that it is the function of citizens to stay informed and when purchasing a good, review the labels and composition of the products to certify if it is within the regulations and complies with actual standards, so don't buy green-labeled products with information that cannot be verified.
In the same way, before buying any good or service, you have to be clear about what you want and what you will use it for, and also think about how your waste will be treated. In order to change your consumption pattern you have to make some changes:
- Be clear why to change
- Review your consumption habit and how your changes will be for sustainable consumption
- Make a gradual change plan to carry out your new pattern of consumption
- Set goals to meet that are realistic
- Have clear objectives, which are punctual and manageable execution
- Propose an action plan that addresses you and leads you towards your change
Solve Wastewater Management
Although this Central American nation has invested large sums of money in the execution of environmental projects and is also a reference in the world from the environmental point of view. However, poor wastewater management has affected the quality of the water in its rivers and their beds. Some of the most polluted rivers are the Tiribí, María Aguilar and Torres metropolitan rivers, as well as others.
However, much of the contaminated wastewater deposition comes from homes that are not connected to the sanitary sewer system. Currently only 21,5% of the houses are connected to the drinking water channeling system and of these connected houses only 37% receive treatment of their wastewater. The remaining 63% are connected but the wastewater that passes through them is not treated.
The houses and businesses that are not connected, deposit their wastewater with traces of detergents and feces in septic tanks where the sludge is managed, however, according to the authorities, embargoes present some problems. Such as poor design, construction and management of septic tanks and drainage.
This situation affects the riverbeds and therefore the areas of river mouths, transferring to them, contaminated water that affects the coastal areas and tourist use of the town and cause possible risks of contagion of diseases for those who consume these. waters.
This poor management of wastewater in Costa Rica has created a health and environmental quality problem, due to bad odors in the water. This leads to the occurrence of possible mental illnesses such as depression and also the possible increase in the presence of animals such as rodents and insects that are transmitters of diseases.
All this is in contrast to the image that Costa Rica projects as a "green country" and, however, the management of its wastewater and management of riverbeds is far from this category. Due to this, a comprehensive wastewater management plan for the Central American country is a priority, which goes hand in hand with the plan in the change to a circular economy, which will lead to the reduction of waste and the education of citizens who by transforming they will be the first to get involved in demanding that their wastewater treatment system works.
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