Analysis of the Recycling Sector in Intermediate Cities. Study Case – Neiva, Colombia

https://doi.org/10.25100/iyc.v22i2.6252
Recycle Waste picker Vulnerability Commerce Solid waste

Article Sidebar

PDF XML (Español)

Published: Jul 1, 2020
Issue: Vol. 22 No. 2 (2020): Engineering and Competitiveness
Section Artículos de investigacion

Publcation metrics

1005 | 143 | 17




 


Main Article Content

Authors

  Christian Valderrama Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Neiva, Colombia
Juan D. Ortiz 1Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Neiva, Colombia
Maria M. Usa Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Neiva, Colombia
  Oscar I. Borrero Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas, Pecuarias y del Medio Ambiente, Neiva, Colombia
Abstract

The economic activity of recycling belongs to an unfortunate and marginalized segment of society in Colombia. This fact translates in high rates of informality and a general perception about people that work in this activity, which come usually from extreme poverty, burdened by discrimination, drug addiction, and rejection. The goal of this research was to determine the most significant factors impacting levels of society and economics. For this purpose, we carried out a mixed analysis in the chain of the recycling sector in Neiva, an intermediate city. Because of the informality of waste pickers’ union, official information and field survey were conducted to identify the waste commercialization establishments. The collection and transportation process were identified, and a survey was applied to 50 waste pickers and ten recycling companies. Seventy-two percent of the population is constituted by male gender, older than 25 years, in an unsafe condition, and with labor intensity of 8 hours per day (average). On the other hand, forty percent of companies have labor-related personnel, which confirms a high level of informality in the sector. The most commercialized product is cardboard, and the vast majority only purchase and commercialize the material.

How to Cite
1.
Valderrama C, Ortiz JD, Usa MM, Borrero OI. Analysis of the Recycling Sector in Intermediate Cities. Study Case – Neiva, Colombia. inycomp [Internet]. 2020 Jul. 1 [cited 2024 Nov. 18];22(2):1-10. Available from: https://revistaingenieria.univalle.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria_y_competitividad/article/view/6252
References

(1) Kaza S, Bhada-Tata P, Lisa Y, Van Woerden F. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050. Urban Development. The World Bank; 2018. 292 p. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1329-0.

(2) Hoornweg D, Bhada-Tata P. Urban Development - What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management. The World Bank, editor. Washington; 2012 [Consulted 2018/03/25]. Report No.: 15. Available from: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17388.

(3) Gómez-Correa JA, Agudelo-Suárez AA, Ronda-Pérez E. Condiciones Sociales y de Salud de los Recicladores de Medellín. Rev Salud Pública. 2008;10(5):706–15. Doi: 10.1590/S0124-00642008000500003.

(4) Vázquez-Rowe I, Kahhat R, Larrea-Gallegos G, Ziegler-Rodriguez K. Peru’s road to climate action: Are we on the right path? The role of life cycle methods to improve Peruvian national contributions. Sci Total Environ. 2019;659:249–66. Doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.322.

(5) Valdivia-Alcalá R, Abelino-Torres G, López-Santiago MA, Zavala-Pineda MJ. Valoración económica del reciclaje de desechos urbanos. Rev Chapingo Ser Ciencias For y del Ambient. 2012;18(3):435–47. Doi: 10.5154/r.rchscfa.2010.07.044.

(6) Lett LA. Las amenazas globales, el reciclaje de residuos y el concepto de economía circular. Rev Argent Microbiol. 2014;46(1):1–2. Doi: 10.1016/S0325-7541(14)70039-2.

(7) Iglesias BM. Intermediary cities in the territorial integration of the Global South. Rev CIDOB d’Afers Int. 2016;2016(114):109–32.

(8) Guerrero LA, Maas G, Hogland W. Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste Manag. 2013;33(1):220–32. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2012.09.008.

(9) Hettiarachchi H, Ryu S, Caucci S, Silva R. Municipal Solid Waste Management in Latin America and the Caribbean: Issues and Potential Solutions from the Governance Perspective. Recycling. 2018;3(2):19. Doi: 10.3390/recycling3020019.

(10) Ramírez-Vargas CA, Paredes D, Guerrero J. Sostenibilidad financiera y económica de plantas de manejo de residuos sólidos urbanos en Colombia. Ing Y Compet. 2014;16(2):65–77. Doi: 10.25100/iyc.v16i2.3684.

(11) Bezama A, Aguayo P, Konrad O, Navia R, Lorber KE. Investigations on mechanical biological treatment of waste in South America: Towards more sustainable MSW management strategies. Waste Manag. 2007;27(2):228–37.Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2006.01.010.

(12) Resende V, Cruvinel N, Rava Zolnikov T, Bashash M, Marques CP, Scott JA.

Waterborne diseases in waste pickers of Estrutural, Brazil, the second largest open-air dumpsite in world. Waste Manag. 2019;99:71–8. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.08.035.

(13) Ballesteros VL, Yicenia ;, Urrego C, Botero Botero S, Arango YL. Factores de riesgo biológicos en recicladores informales de la ciudad de Medellín, 2005. Rev Fac Nac Salud Pública. 2008;26(2):169-177.

(14) Mol MPG, Pereira AF, Greco DB, Cairncross S, Heller L. Assessment of work-related accidents associated with waste handling in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Waste Manag Res. 2017;35(10):1084–92. Doi: 10.1177/0734242X17722209.

(15) Gutberlet J. Informal and Cooperative Recycling as a Poverty Eradication Strategy. Geogr Compass. 2012;6(1):19–34. Doi: 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2011.00468.x.

(16) Wilson DC, Rodic L, Scheinberg A, Velis CA, Alabaster G. Comparative analysis of solid waste management in 20 cities. Waste Manag Res. 2012;30(3):237–54. Doi: 10.1177/0734242X12437569.

(17) Botello-Álvarez JE, Rivas-García P, Fausto-Castro L, Estrada-Baltazar A, Gomez-Gonzalez R. Informal collection, recycling and export of valuable waste as transcendent factor in the municipal solid waste management: A Latin-American reality. J Clean Prod. 2018;182:485–95. Doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.065.

(18) Gutberlet J. Cooperative urban mining in Brazil: Collective practices in selective household waste collection and recycling. Waste Manag .2015;45:22–31. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2015.06.023.

(19) Castelao-Caruana ME, Srnec CC. Public Policies Addressed to the Social and Solidarity Economy in South America. Toward a New Model? Voluntas. 2013;24:713–32. Doi: 10.1007/s11266-012-9276-y.

(20) Navarrete-Hernandez P, Navarrete-Hernandez N. Unleashing Waste-Pickers’ Potential: Supporting Recycling Cooperatives in Santiago de Chile. World Dev. 2018;101:293–310. Doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.08.016.

(21) Maldonado AR. La situación de los derechos humanos de la comunidad recicladora en América Latina: un reclamo urgente por respeto a través de estándares internacionales [Internet]. México D.F.; 2019 [Consulted 2019/12/23]. p. 11. Available from: https://www.wiego.org/node/7794.

(22) Ziraba AK, Haregu TN, Mberu B. A review and framework for understanding the potential impact of poor solid waste management on health in developing countries. Archives of Public Health. 2016;74:55 Doi: 10.1186/s13690-016-0166-4.

(23) Zolnikov TR, da Silva RC, Tuesta AA, Marques CP, Cruvinel VRN. Ineffective waste site closures in Brazil: A systematic review on continuing health conditions and occupational hazards of waste collectors. Waste Manag. 2018;80:26–39. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.08.047.

(24) Martínez L, Zuluaga B, Estrada D. The socioeconomic conditions of recyclers: Census data in Cali, Colombia. Data Br. 2019;23:103695. Doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2019.01.043.

(25) Tovar LF. Formalización de las organizaciones de recicladores de oficio en Bogotá: reflexiones desde la economía popular. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. 2018;62:39-63. Doi: 10.17141/iconos.62.2018.3230.

(26) Castilhos Junior AB, Ramos NF, Alves CM, Forcellini FA, Graciolli OD. Recyclable material waste pickers: An analysis of working conditions and operational infrastructure in the south, southeast and northeast of Brazil. Cienc e Saude Coletiva. 2013;18(11):3115–24. Doi: 10.1590/S1413-81232013001100002.

(27) Parizeau K. When Assets are Vulnerabilities: An Assessment of Informal Recyclers’ Livelihood Strategies in Buenos Aires, Argentina. World Dev. 2015;67:161–73. Doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.10.012.

(28) Padilla AJ, Trujillo JC. Waste disposal and households’ heterogeneity. Identifying factors shaping attitudes towards source-separated recycling in Bogotá, Colombia. Waste Manag. 2018;74:16–33. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.11.052.

(29) Rebehy PCPW, Costa AL, Campello CAGB, de Freitas Espinoza D, Neto MJ. Innovative social business of selective waste collection in Brazil: Cleaner production and poverty reduction. J Clean Prod. 2017;154:462–73. Doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.173.

(30) Ibáñez-Forés V, Bovea MD, Coutinho-Nóbrega C, de Medeiros-García HR, Barreto-Lins R. Temporal evolution of the environmental performance of implementing selective collection in municipal waste management systems in developing countries: A Brazilian case study. Waste Manag. 2018;72:65–77. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.10.027.

(31) Franca LS, Ribeiro GM, Chaves G de LD. The planning of selective collection in a real-life vehicle routing problem: A case in Rio de Janeiro. Sustain Cities Soc. 2019;47:101488.Doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2019.101488.

(32) Conke LS. Barriers to waste recycling development: Evidence from Brazil. Resour Conserv Recycl. 2018;134:129–35. Doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.03.007.

(33) Fattor MV, Vieira MGA. Application of human HAZOP technique adapted to identify risks in Brazilian waste pickers’ cooperatives. J Environ Manage. 2019;246:247–58. Doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.128.

(34) Schlosser O, Robert S, Noyon N. Airborne mycotoxins in waste recycling and recovery facilities: Occupational exposure and health risk assessment. Waste Manag. 2020;105:395–404. Doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.02.031.

(35) Ferronato N, Ragazzi M, Gorritty Portillo MA, Gabriela E, Lizarazu G, Viotti P, et al. How to improve recycling rate in developing big cities: An integrated approach for assessing municipal solid waste collection and treatment scenarios. Environ Dev. 2019;29:94–110. Doi: 10.1016/j.envdev.2019.01.002.

(36) Lino FAM, Ismail KAR. Analysis of the potential of municipal solid waste in Brazil. Environ Dev. 2012;4:105–13. Doi: 10.1016/j.envdev.2012.08.005.

(37) Magni AAC, Günther WMR. Cooperativas de catadores de materiais recicláveis como alternativa à exclusão social e sua relação com a população de rua. Saude e Soc. 2014;23(1):99–109. Doi: 10.1590/S0104-12902014000100011.

(38) O’ Hare P. ‘The landfill has always borne fruit’: precarity, formalisation and dispossession among Uruguay’s waste pickers. Dialect Anthropol. 2018;43:31–44. Doi: 10.1007/s10624-018-9533-6.

(39) Sorroche S. Experiências replicáveis. Análise das vinculações entre cooperativas de recicladores, agências estatais e ONGs na Grande Buenos Aires. Rev Estud Soc. 2017;61:58–68. Doi: 10.7440/res61.2017.05.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors grant the journal and Universidad del Valle the economic rights over accepted manuscripts, but may make any reuse they deem appropriate for professional, educational, academic or scientific reasons, in accordance with the terms of the license granted by the journal to all its articles.

Articles will be published under the Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC-SA licence (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike).