Making useful material out of Trash
By: Chanmi Guan
Description and Rationale
Philippine is a beautiful country but garbage is one of the biggest problem that is destroying the environment. According to government records, about 74.14% of the trash comes from households and only about 4% are recycled. (BNET) There is an increasing number of trash everyday, month and year.
What kinds of waste products have the highest number of being thrown? How much trash is thrown every month and year? In which cities or places are garbage kept? How is garbage influencing the Philippines? How are the poor people’s lives affected? What do poor people do with the trash? How much plastic bottles, tetrapak boxes, and cans are thrown out every year (approximately/percentage)? How is trash bad for the environment? How much trash can be recycled (percentage)?
Would there be any difference by creating useful material out of trash? According to research, Manila’s main waste dump, Payatas, has garbage piled as high as seven stories. (Year of 2000)
Many of the people were trapped, missing or killed (Boes.org) People living in Manila should help and recycle as much as possible. Making something creative out of trash could make a difference. It could reduce the amount of garbage and help the poor. It is said that household garbage make up the highest percentage of trash. Then with the recycled garbage, there are lots of ideas of making something creative. Giving the presented material to the poor will help the poor make money by selling the items and also influence the poor to make a recycled material. For example, cans are always a good source of recycling. Aluminum cans can be made into little pots to plant seeds, or can also be made into drinking cups. There are always ways to make the environment clean.
The initial purpose of this project is to make useful materials out of trash, to research how it might be a good influence in the environment, and to teach the Filipino kids or adults to recycle their household trash. Making creative material out of trash to save the environment will be explored and put in practice.
It is hoped that making material out of trash will have an impact in the Philippines such as preventing people from getting trapped in the garbage, protecting the environment, and encouraging people to make, help, ad care about reusing trash.
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Biology
Common Names and Synonyms
Common housefly is also called Musca domestica. Kawalan lalat Rumah(Phillippine) or mouche domestique(French) is a fly that lives among human habitant, feeds on garbage and spreads many diseases. Musca means “a fly” in Latin, domestica from Latin “domesticus” meaning “pertaining to the house and “domus” meaning “house”.
Classification
Kingdom: Animalia (Animals)
Phylum: Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class: Insecta (Insects)
Order: Diptera (flies)
Family: Muscidae (house flies and kin)
Genus: Musca
Species: M. domestica (house Fly)
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Morphology and Physical Description
An adult house fly is a strong flier and are about 6 to 7 mm long. Female flies are larger than males; and their thorax is gray, with four longitudinal dark lines on their back. The underside of their abdomen is yellow and gray with irregular dark markings on the sides. The difference between female and male is by noting the space between the eyes, which in females, is twice more apart than in males. Their whole body is covered with thin hairs and they have reddish eyes. House fly only have one pair of wing and their wings have a sharp upward bend.
Musca domestica’s eggs are white and are about 1.2mm in length, mature larva is 3 to 9mm, with creamy white color, and its body is cylindrical but bigger toward head. Pupa, the last stage, is dark brown and its 8mm long. It changes color yellow, red, brown, and to black as it ages.
Internally, male Musca domestica has no glands that are found in other Diptera, and in female there are greater portion of abdominal cavity and glands are present. It also has anterior spiracle with six papillae. Anterior meaning “Located near or toward the head”, spiracle meaning “openings in the exoskeleton of an insect”, and papillae meaning the “nipples of the mammary glands and the taste buds of the tongue.” So maybe the author is trying to say that Musca domestica has six taste buds near or toward the head.
When an adult fly lays an egg, the number egg produced is a function of a female size and the result of larval nutrition. Moreover, Musca domestica has 4,000 facets in each eye, and has smelling distance over 750 yards.
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Getting Food
Adult houseflies suck liquids containing sweet, fresh rotting food or garbage. Houseflies are attracted to a lot of different food material, but it cannot bite; it only allows them to suck on liquids. They spit out saliva on solid foods to pre-digest it, and then suck it back in. They often vomit and eat it again. Some authors say; the reason why flies rub their forelegs is because their forelegs are like human’s tongue that allows them to taste. And if their forelegs are dirty from hanging on the ceiling, they wouldn’t be able to taste. Scientists have studied that Musca domestica was able to tear and suck up the cells. It cannot be seen by the naked eye, but they were able to find this on a scanning electron microscope.
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Reproduction
Musca domestica’s life cycle metamorphosises through this stages: egg to larva (or maggot), then to pupa, and finally to an adult. In summer, when houseflies lay an egg; in rubbish pile or some other protected areas. The life cycle can be completed in 7 to 10 days with up to 12 generations. Each female fly can lay up to 500 eggs over 3 to 4 days. The Larva emerges within 8 to 20 hours and immediately feeds on the material where the egg was laid. Full-grown larva crawls up to 15 meters to a dried cool place and transform into a pupa stage. Between 6 to 10 days, the housefly emerges flying and escapes from the skin of pupa.
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Environmental Factors
Common house flies are a cosmopolitan pest, always found in human activities, homes, poultry, feeding on garbage dumps and other places like rotting food or plant. They adapt in spring through winter but especially in summers. Adults are inactive at night, they are often resting on ceilings or on outdoor vegetation.
Housefly is found in most parts of the world. They don’t eat other insects because it does not bite but it sucks on other matters like pig and horses. Houseflies are dangerous because it carries disease-causing bacteria and food poisoning.
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Origin and Distribution
The Musca domestica originated from the steppes of central Asia, not specifically from a country, but now, it exists in all continents. They are around all climates, winter through fall. They feed on garbage, associates with animal wastes and human activities. Trash must have brought the housefly into Philippines because they are all over the place.
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Importance to People
Musca domestica is all over the world and causes diseases and discomfort to humans. Animals such as frogs and lizards need flies for their living, but houseflies are not important to human because it has 100 pathogens (An agent that causes disease, especially a living microorganism such as a bacterium or fungus) that makes people ill or even to death. Some of the examples of pathogens are infantile diarrhea (weak babies and young children having problems with pooping), tuberculosis, cholera (lack of appetite, vomiting), as well as parasitic protozoa and worms. When houseflies are nearby human habitations, a public health problem could occur and they are spreading diseases not only to humans but also to animals. If the wastes food could be cleaned properly, and trash being reused as another material, then there would be less sickness of humans and people wouldn’t worry about the food that was last touched by the housefly.
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Survivability and Endangered Status
Adult house fly usually lives 15 to 25 days, but some authors have said that it can live as much as 90 days if it was exposed in temperatures of 15 Celsius, so, fortunately it can never be realized. Houseflies are not endangered. Scientist has calculated that if one pair of flies begins reproducing in April by progenitors, meaning “an ancestor in a direct line,” and if all were able to live, there would be about 191,010,000,000,000,000,000 flies by August. Flies are more around garbage dumps, poultry, and in houses than in forest. There are housefly seen everywhere, and if they are not cleaned well or waste properly, flies would more likely increase. There are all over the world increasing in population, due to trash, poultry, house garbage and garbage not separated between food and plastics.
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Potential Solutions
Is reusing trash widely known in the Philippines? There aren’t a lot of stores or places that sells recycled materials. From research it was said that 74 percent is household garbage and only 4 percent was recycled. (BNET) Do people have a hard time recycling? Or does it take too much time? Not a lot of people would want to collect garbage, but in order to make a house clean with no flies, it’s better to clean the garbage before throwing it. People living in the poor villages have to live with garbage dumps, and there are some possibilities to save the environment and make poor people have a better life. Below are 3 possibilities with an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Possibility 1 -
Pot made of cans
A lot of plastic bottles are being recycled but there are so many cans that are not being recycled, so why not make it into a little pot?
Advantages:
1. Plant a seed inside a little can. It’s always good to plant a lot of trees so why not plant it into a little pot and then transfer it to a garden to enlarge.
2. Plant makes air fresh and clean, they make the polluted environment clean. It is also a good practice for little kids. Like in school, they learn how plant. Tuna cans would be perfect for little kids and it will also be helping the environment.
Disadvantages:
1. Cans are often sharp, so little children must be careful.
2. If the can is small, the plant needs a larger space to grow. The cans also need holes on the bottom.
3. It will rust when time passes by.
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Possibility 2 -
Reusable material
Plastic bottles, tetrapax box, and glass jars are a good source of recycling. It can be made into many creative materials. If 74 percent of garbage is from household, then all should help and find creative idea of making something out of trash.
Advantages
1. A good practice for fine Art.
2. Influence others and teach them
3. A project for elementary children.
4. Don’t need to use money for decorations or jewelry box.
Disadvantages:
1. It takes a lot time and concentration.
2. For the poor people, they don’t have the supply for paste and colored paper.
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Possibility 3 -
collecting trash
There are a lot of families and little children who suffers to survive, especially in Payatas. Some are killed or trapped in the garbage dumps. Many of them find their reusable materials by digging the garbage. Some say that they try and make materials out of garbage so that they can earn money. There would lots of flies. They would get sick because small children wouldn’t know anything. So why not just give the usable trash? There is also trash floating in rivers and beaches because animals like dog or rats opens the garbage bag. Also some poor people open garbage bag to look for food or recyclable material to make money. So why not clean all the trash and not throw? Save and give it to the people who asks.
Advantages:
1. Many young children wouldn’t have to suffer to survive
2. Poor people can earn money
3. Flies would decrease because there are no food particles.
Disadvantages:
1. It can get too stuffed. Full of household trash.
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Bibliography
Gordon, Hemitt “Anatomy of a fly” Cell science 1905. 25 April, 2009. <http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/s2-51/203/395>
Musca domestica Linnaeus 20 April, 2009. <http://www.arkayltd.co.uk/pages/info_about_flying_insects/detailed_fly_info_files/house_fly_detailed_info.htm>
“Musca domestica” when I breathe 14 May, 2008. 25 April, 2009 <http://onlyang.blogspot.com/2008/05/musca-domestica.html>
Niclas, Svenningsen “Response to Landfill Collapse in Payatas, Philippines” Boes.org 19 July, 2000. 20 April, 2009 <http://boes.org/world/asia/philippines/unep000719.html>
Robin, McLeod "Musca domestica- house fly” Bugguide 23 December, 2005. 20 April 2009 <http://bugguide.net/node/view/39559>
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