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As reported in previous months, the project
presented originally underwent certain changes. The reason for this
modification was the fact that the municipality scenario on recycling had
changed, as during 1998 the Municipality pushed through a programme for
the recovery of inorganic material (mainly paper, cardboard and glass) in
the central and north-western sector of the communal area.
Together, these components constitute from
23 to 25% of the materials generated in the commune and are, moreover,
those presenting a broader market for recovery while requiring a lower
level of infrastructure.
The recycling programme has formally
started this year and has included 80 informal garbage collectors that
until recently used to work illegally in the commune. They have been
formalised and they are the only ones entitled to access the facility and
remove the recyclable material that the taxpayers generate. To facilitate
the separation, classification and sale task, the municipality has
contributed with the lease of a depot for storage and provided managerial
and administrative advice.
An agreement has also been subscribed with
a company manufacturing glass containers, Cristalería Chile, and a
charity organisation, Corporation for Helping Burnt Children, who have
organised campaigns in different places in the city --especially
residential areas-- for the community to deposit their glass waste.
In this way, the main municipal objective,
i.e. to begin reducing the volume of the waste dumped in landfills, has
begun to be met, generating environmental benefits for the city and also
social benefits for the different stakeholders involved.
For that reason, the municipality decided
to allocate a large part of the research cooperation funds to the
feasibility of expanding this recovery programme to other components
present in our waste. A smaller percentage of the amount was used to print
dissemination material to specifically promote the recovery of glass.
The main component present in our residues
is organic matter. In the Santiago commune, there is a percentage of 45 to
51% according to the place and activity generating waste. For this reason,
it was decided to conduct research to determine the feasibility of
recovering organic matter generated in the commune in order to
considerably reduce the volumes of waste dumped in landfills, providing
associated environmental benefits and a reduction of cost under the
concept of final disposition, benefits that are directly transferred to
the residing community and users of the Santiago commune.
This decision was made on the basis of
different experiences where successful programmes have been implemented
for the best use of organic matter deriving from household waste and large
contributors such as markets, parks and gardens.
In Chile, during the last few years a new
market for this type of waste has been opened with reasonable handling
costs, making the alternative of recovery for this material a perfectly
viable endeavour.
The study included a series of stages among
which the following can be mentioned:
Determination of area of study. The study
was conducted in only one sector of the commune (central and western
sector) as it is here where the inorganic recycling programme started and
where the larger producers of solid waste can be found. This area covers
33% of the total communal surface (750 hectares).
The main generators of organic material
were established within the study areas: open markets, restaurants, parks
and gardens, educational facilities and dwelling sectors, especially
condominiums of the residential sector of the municipality of Santiago.
A detailed analysis of the main sources of
organic matter was made. In some cases the volumes of organic matter
produced were established, especially for parks, gardens, and open
markets, that constitute the larger producers of this type of waste and
therefore those considered for a first stage in the development and
implementation of the recycling of organic matter in this commune.
After analysing the production chain of
this type of residues for each one of the main generating sources, a
proposal for recovery was made. This proposal included a separate
treatment for each of the sources that for their nature require a
different approach.
In general, all the proposals led to the
making of compost. The study recommends to begin with vegetal residues
from parks, squares and gardens since they have a more homogeneous
composition and its production is territorially concentrated, making its
collection and transportation easier and resulting in good-quality
compost.
This recommendation has been taken up by
the municipality and will be included as a condition for new contracts for
the maintenance of green areas.
Another stage of the study of special
importance for the future development of this project consisted in the
definition of a strategy to promote the awareness of the community and its
participation in a future organic waste recycling programme, lacking which
there are only scant possibilities of success in this important project
that will be shortly implemented in the commune.
This initiative is also linked to an
existing project in the municipality on environmental education in the
municipality educational facilities (Green School Projects) where
activities for the environmental improvements of the school and the
neighbourhood are conducted followed by programmes of inorganic recycling
and compost making.
Since a project of this nature must
necessarily be related to other projects implemented in the commune, such
as the recycling of paper and glass in the downtown areas of Santiago, the
printing of information material for the glass recycling project was
sponsored in the form of a poster and a brochure, which were distributed
in the commune in order to foster the success of the glass recycling
project. This material is attached.
Finally, within the research project the
market of organic matter recovery was analysed at the national level and
complemented with international information on this subject. The first
contacts with companies and institutions linked to the recovery of organic
waste were made.
In summary, this study was very beneficial
to provide orientation for municipal and management around the issue of
the management of organic waste making it possible that this important
environmental project will be implemented shortly in the Santiago commune
and that it may be replicated in other, mainly urban, communes of our
country.
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