Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager
Rio+20 has offered a space for reflection and exchange on many aspects of our relationship with the environment, as well as stimulating focused discussion on concrete changes we can make as we move forward. One such subject — one that concerns all of us in its various aspects — is waste and the need to massively reduce it, better collect it, systematically recycle it, and make it the basis for profitable green businesses.
An event on Wednesday entitled PlastiCity — organized by the Ocean Recovery Alliance in partnership with Republic of Everyone and Applied Brilliance, with support from Google, among other companies — offered an excellent opportunity to learn from different approaches to waste in its various dimensions. The event touched on issues related to plastics, but also explored the importance of recycling and partnering with all actors in the “recycling chain.”
Several topics were agreed upon by the various participants across the board — including, first and foremost, the urgent need to reduce the amount of garbage produced and the traditional means of disposal into landfills, dumps, and incinerators, all of which generate innumerable health and societal problems. It was in this context that Mariel Vilella from an organization called GAIA spoke about the aim of zero waste: the idea that nothing should be wasted, but that all our waste should become recyclable or compostable.
This is not some utopian dream, Vilella pointed out, explaining that her organization has been working with many cities around the world to identify best practices on waste collection and recycling, as well as encouraging cities to adopt procedures that move them toward the zero waste approach. She noted the case of the city of Hernani in Spain, which has adopted a municipally supported door-to-door collection service that is contributing to more efficient recycling practices. Nor were Vilella’s examples limited to cities in the developed world. She highlighted the experience of Pune in India, which also adopted a door-to-door collection service — training a cooperative of more than 2,000 informal wastepickers and incorporating them into the recycling chain. Other cities, such as Flanders in Holland, have adopted landfield and incinerator restrictions and charges for their operation. Currently, 40 percent of such charges are going back into waste management projects and education.
Another point of agreement among the participants was the importance of reducing the proportion of the recycling burden that is borne by consumers. This means that producers and manufacturers should also be participating in the recycling process. An excellent example was provided by Cesar Faccio of RECICLANIP, a Brazilian entity established by tire producers such as Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Pirelli, and Continental, which has collected and recycled around 270 million waste tires since its creation in 1999. Faccio explained that RECICLANIP works with cities through consortiums with one or more municipalities, in which RECICLANIP collects the waste materials and transport them to appropriate recycling facilities. Faccio also noted that the organization promotes training and health education in Brazil to address the need to return and recycle waste tires, which are a vector for dengue and other mosquito-transmitted diseases — making their collection and removal a public health priority.
The event also presented successful cases of innovation in the use of plastic and in developing a culture of recycling. Such is the case of Replenish, a company created by entrepreneur Jason Foster that is dedicated to the production of reusable cleaning liquid bottles and their refilling with concentrated capsules. Replenish provides an excellent example of a thriving business based on a culture of reusing materials rather than discarding old products and buying new ones. Another story of innovation was presented by Mike Biddle of MBAPolymers, who has developed a technology to recycle plastic. Biddle is currently raising awareness on the importance of recycling plastic and other toxic materials — as well as sending a clear message that green business can also be profitable.
Last but not least, it is worth highlighting that this week at Rio+20, there have been many interesting attempts to increase awareness of the importance of recycling through public art and installations. One of these came from artist Vik Muniz, who is creating an interactive 20-by-30-meter “postcard” from Rio de Janeiro made out of bottles and recyclable material. During this week, he has invited visitors to collect waste material and join the collective art project. Muniz, a world-renowned artist who works with waste materials, is also an activist who has helped to raise awareness about the living conditions of wastepickers in Brazil — especially in Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, which operated for 34 years and was Latin America’s biggest waste disposal site until it was shut down less than a month ago.