Film Analysis Essay on Polluting Paradise: Environmental Issues Portrayed in the Film

Introduction

The film, Polluting Paradise, is a 2012 German documentary that was directed by director Faith Akin. The film was broadcasted in a special broadcasting section at Cannes film festivals in the year 2012. The documentary lay focus on the environmental deterioration of a small Turkish village of Camburnu in Surneme. The village has been turned into a gigantic garbage dump by the Turkish government. Surmene is a district and a town in the larger province of Trabzon in turkeys black sea area. The documentary is a heartfelt chronicle of environmental mismanagement that has damaged faith's grandparents' home area. The informative video was produced by Akin in collaboration with the German TV channel. The documentary has raised awareness of the environmental issues unfolding in the last six or so years on the coast of the black sea. Akin has sided with the villagers in Camburnu. It all started in 2007 when the copper mine which was located a couple of miles away from the village was converted into a gigantic landfill, purposed to serve the whole province of Trabzon waste amongst much protests from the local people. This opposition of the landfill has remained strident over the years due to the strong stench emitted from the waste, and even the detrimental results on the streams and water table of the area which are economically damaging. This paper will seek to discuss the issue of recycling in Germany based on the environmental issues raised by the film.

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Germany has contributed a lot to the global fight in support of the environment through recycling of it garbage. As a country, it has tasted success in its endeavors to battle the ever-increasing heaps of waste. This topic of waste recycling may seem intimidating to visitors or new comers in the country. The best thing is that there have been simple rules laid down to follow and it only takes a short period of time before the newcomers are able to manage the garbage line at their front door. In contrast with the film Germany has managed to conserve its biodiversity. The diversity of habitats and species is threatened and Germany has joined hands with both Japanese and Brazilian companies in support of the UNs convention on biodiversity (Areba np). In the Turkish village, it is evident that the biodiversity of the area has been greatly affected by the landfill; which has affected most of the species either through habitation loss or death due to the poisonous gases emitted by the landfill.

Germany generates millions of tons of waste, to be precise 30 million tons annually. Through the implementation of policies and other recycling initiatives, the country has been able to successfully manage its waste with little pollution in the environment. Unlike the situation in the Turkish village where waste is disposed on a landfill, Germany opts to recycle its waste. For instance, the green dot initiative involves payment on products packages which has reduced waste. This is because the more packaging is done the more the company will have to pay. This great practice has led to less metal, thinner glass and less paper that is used, in turn, this leads to little garbage for recycling generated. The overall outcome of the initiative is a radical decrease in the annual level of garbage that is about one million tons lesser.

In the Turkish village, waste from all over the province are dumped in the landfill without sorting. All the waste both commercial and domestic are dumped in the landfill which produces a terrible stench in the area, which is unbearable among the locals. In Germany, the triumph of this program is due to the suitable sorting of the waste. First and foremost any kind of bottle that cannot be reused goes to the labeled glass bins (Walther et al 71). This comprises wine bottles, oil bottles, juice, and bath -salts bottles. The glasses are sorted by color with a bin for putting brown, green and colorless glass. The biological garbage is put in different bins usually labeled brown in color. It makes almost 50% of the total waste generated in Germany and includes peels, leftover food, garden waste, coffee filters, and tea bags. It is recycled as a compost heap in gardens (Areba np). The outcome of recycling biological waste is either energy via the natural fermenting gases, which are trapped and utilized or it is used as a garden compost. Though the brown bins are a little smelly at the times they are emptied frequently especially during the summer. This has helped curb the stench in the area unlike in the Turkish village where young people are moving to the major cities to avoid their stenching home area. Also in the event that an individual does not want to make compost heap they are allowed to put the biological stuff in the household garbage bin which is normally grey in color (Walther et al 71). It contains ash, old objects, nylon and textile stockings, tissue, diapers and other personal effects. All the garbage in this bin is burned, but goes to the landfill in the Turkish province of Trabzon.

In the recycling process, the stuff that did not fall in any of the discussed category "the rest" which include batteries, fluorescent tubes, acids, paint cans, corrosives, disinfectants, and adhesives are treated as perilous waste (Walther et al 71). Usually, the people are informed of where to take the garbage by the local town council to be collected, the battery is disposed separately in their own small bins. Akin in his film acknowledges how these dangerous wastes affect the environment in Carmurnu area whereby the water table has dropped and most rivers and streams have been polluted. This threatens the areas biological diversity of species and habitats, it also deny people their right to unlimited access and utilization of the area's natural resources for example clean water. Germany is biologically diverse and its rivers are clean and non-polluted. Plastics in the black sea area has polluted the rivers and the sea becoming a threat to the aquatic animals' biodiversity.

Currently, untreated commercial and domestic garbage cannot be dumped in the landfills in Germany. Due to packaging law in Germany and other options to landfills, the country decreased the quantity of waste entering landfills to 0% (Nelles et al 5)Landfills emit landfill gas, this gas consist methane, and carbon dioxide gases. Methane from landfill causes damage to the environment 25 times more than the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect. This shows that Carmurnu environment has been damaged by the enormous landfill in the area. The land where the landfill is degraded, making it less fertile and productive. This due to existence of non-organic materials everywhere which cannot decompose.

The emission of harmful leachate into the groundwater is one of the extra problems that the landfill causes to the mankind. Waste pretreatment helps a lot as it improves the qualities of leachate. The main stakeholders in waste management are the private and municipal garbage management companies (Nelles et al 5). The private waste company is mainly accountable for recycling of commercial, trade and domestic wastes. On the other hand, the municipal is answerable on the garbage collection, recovery, pretreatment and disposal. Most of the garbage presently being generated is still very high, precisely the municipal waste, additional efforts are needed towards efficient consumption of a resource to curb garbage from arising.

Germany has turned management of waste into a resource management. This realization has helped protect the environment and also its economic payoff is high (Walther et al 71). The garbage controlling industry is a powerful and extensive sector of the German economy: the industry employs around 200000 people in roughly 3000 organizations which have created nearly 40 billion euros annual turnover. High recycling levels of at least 60% for commercial garbage, 60% for municipal garbage, and 90% for demolition and construction is a great feat for the country (Nelles et al 5).

Around 10 million tons of electronic and electric equipment were sold in the European union markets of the member states. This led to the growth of the electronic garbage to the amount of 10 million tons annually. The electronic gadgets sales increased in the markets at 2.5 to 2.7% yearly. In response to this problem the EU came up with the EEE 2013 directive to collect the e garbage in an environmental friendly way. Germany as a member adopted this directive to its legislations. The country require each producer to pick the garbage according to their market share. They designed take back procedures to collect the e-waste. Despite this measure the country collects less than 50% of it e-waste (Deubzer 3).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Germany is incredibly well-organized at recycling garbage and reducing the negatives results of garbage. The nation is a global leader and a model that many states are striving to emulate in an attempt to share the achievement of waste recycling that Germany enjoys. But again albeit the fact that Germany is efficient and consistent in its waste management electronic waste remains a puzzle to the country. There have not been clear policy or procedures that clearly explains what happens to e-waste.

Work Cited

Areba, T. "In Germany, recycling garbage is big business." Financial Journal in The (2010). Film "Mull im Garten Eden" by Fatih Akin (2012)

Nelles, M., J. Grunes, and G. Morscheck. "Waste Management in Germany-Development to a Sustainable Circular Economy?." Procedia Environmental Sciences 35 (2016): 6-14.

Walther, Grit, et al. "Implementation of the WEEE-directive-economic effects and improvement potentials for reuse and recycling in Germany." The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 47.5-8 (2010): 461-474.

Deubzer.O. E-waste management in Germany. United Nations university-institute for sustainability and peace. 1-94 2011: 90-94.