The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted Latin America, the continent with the highest number of cases and Covid-related deaths. Strict confinement conditions at the beginning of the pandemic put to a halt recycling activities and augmented the consumption of plastic as a barrier to stop the spread of the virus. In Latin America the lack of data to understand the waste management dynamics difficult the adjustment of waste management strategies to cope with the Covid-19. As a novel contribution to the waste management data gap for Latin America, this study uses a virtual and participatory methodology that collects and generates information on household solid waste generation and composition. We present the results obtained between June and November 2021 in six countries in the Latin America region, with a total of 503 participants. Participants indicated that the pandemic motivated them to initiate or increase waste reduction (41%), waste separation (40%) and waste recovery (33%) activities. 43% of participants perceived and increase on their total volume of waste; however, the quantitative data showed a decrease on household waste generation in Peru (-31%), Honduras (-25%) and Venezuela (-82%). No changes in waste composition were observed. Despite the limited sample size, this data provides a much-needed approximation of household waste generation and composition in a pandemic situation during 2021.
Environmental awareness and social mobilization is a growing issue in Latin America. This book discusses how co-operative recycling practices have been increasingly used as a strategy to contest both the waste problem and urban poverty. Selective waste collection and sorting materials out of the garbage stream has become a widespread survival strategy for the economically excluded population. While severe and chronic occupational health problems and risks are very common among the recycling workers, thousands of people exclusively depend on accessing these resources. By examining experiences from Brazil and other Latin American countries, this book questions what can be done to improve the environment and livelihoods for these excluded citizens, examines the specific health and risk implications and looks at the many innovative recycling co-ops and associations which have recently emerged, creating an exciting new form of solidarity economy. In doing so, it uncovers the landscapes of despair populated by the urban marginalized, but also the landscapes of hope, where solidarity and collaboration make a pathway to a better way of life.
Urban slum dwellers—especially in emerging-economy countries—are often poor, live in squalor, and suffer unnecessarily from disease, disability, premature death, and reduced life expectancy. Yet living in a city can and should be healthy. Slum Health exposes how and why slums can be unhealthy; reveals that not all slums are equal in terms of the hazards and health issues faced by residents; and suggests how slum dwellers, scientists, and social movements can come together to make slum life safer, more just, and healthier. Editors Jason Corburn and Lee Riley argue that valuing both new biologic and “street” science—professional and lay knowledge—is crucial for improving the well-being of the millions of urban poor living in slums.
The 2018 Macroeconomic Report, A Mandate to Grow, revisits the growth debate that has been raging in the region for the past half century. Viewing the debate from this long-term perspective allows for a focus on the structural factors that have prevented Latin America and the Caribbean from reaching the growth potential required to keep pace with faster growing regions and to fulfill the aspirations of its population.
The Latin American Economic Outlook 2021: Working Together for a Better Recovery aims to analyse and provide policy recommendations for a strong, inclusive and environmentally sustainable recovery in the region. The report explores policy actions to improve social protection mechanisms and increase social inclusion, foster regional integration and strengthen industrial strategies, and rethink the social contract to restore trust and empower citizens at all stages of the policy‐making process.
Solid waste is a major urban challenge worldwide and decisions over which technologies or methods to apply can have beneficial or detrimental long-term consequences. Inappropriate management of solid waste can lead to damaging environmental impacts, particularly in the megacities of the Global South. Urban Recycling Cooperatives explores the multiple narratives and interdisciplinary nature of waste studies, drawing attention to the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges related to waste management. The book asks questions such as: how do we define waste and our relation to it; who is involved in dealing with waste; and what power interactions become manifest over issues of accessing and managing waste? In recent years informal cooperatives have emerged, devoted to recycling household and business waste before reclassifying it and redirecting it to the authorities. Hence, these workers are able to reclaim significant amounts of natural resources and thus contribute to the saving of resources and lessened waste management expenditures. With particular reference to the Brazilian megalopolis of São Paulo, this book describes this paradigm shift in the general understanding of waste as unwanted discard towards the recognition of waste as a resource that must be recovered for reuse or recycling. It would be of interest to students and policy makers working in international development and waste management.
This is the second edition of the WHO handbook on the safe, sustainable and affordable management of health-care waste--commonly known as "the Blue Book". The original Blue Book was a comprehensive publication used widely in health-care centers and government agencies to assist in the adoption of national guidance. It also provided support to committed medical directors and managers to make improvements and presented practical information on waste-management techniques for medical staff and waste workers. It has been more than ten years since the first edition of the Blue Book. During the intervening period, the requirements on generators of health-care wastes have evolved and new methods have become available. Consequently, WHO recognized that it was an appropriate time to update the original text. The purpose of the second edition is to expand and update the practical information in the original Blue Book. The new Blue Book is designed to continue to be a source of impartial health-care information and guidance on safe waste-management practices. The editors' intention has been to keep the best of the original publication and supplement it with the latest relevant information. The audience for the Blue Book has expanded. Initially, the publication was intended for those directly involved in the creation and handling of health-care wastes: medical staff, health-care facility directors, ancillary health workers, infection-control officers and waste workers. This is no longer the situation. A wider range of people and organizations now have an active interest in the safe management of health-care wastes: regulators, policy-makers, development organizations, voluntary groups, environmental bodies, environmental health practitioners, advisers, researchers and students. They should also find the new Blue Book of benefit to their activities. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the various types of waste produced from health-care facilities, their typical characteristics and the hazards these wastes pose to patients, staff and the general environment. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the guiding regulatory principles for developing local or national approaches to tackling health-care waste management and transposing these into practical plans for regions and individual health-care facilities. Specific methods and technologies are described for waste minimization, segregation and treatment of health-care wastes in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. These chapters introduce the basic features of each technology and the operational and environmental characteristics required to be achieved, followed by information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of each system. To reflect concerns about the difficulties of handling health-care wastewaters, Chapter 9 is an expanded chapter with new guidance on the various sources of wastewater and wastewater treatment options for places not connected to central sewerage systems. Further chapters address issues on economics (Chapter 10), occupational safety (Chapter 11), hygiene and infection control (Chapter 12), and staff training and public awareness (Chapter 13). A wider range of information has been incorporated into this edition of the Blue Book, with the addition of two new chapters on health-care waste management in emergencies (Chapter 14) and an overview of the emerging issues of pandemics, drug-resistant pathogens, climate change and technology advances in medical techniques that will have to be accommodated by health-care waste systems in the future (Chapter 15).
In a rapidly urbanizing and globalized world, cities have been the epicentres of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The virus has spread to virtually all parts of the world; first, among globally connected cities, then through community transmission and from the city to the countryside. This report shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. It provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective. It also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda in fostering the value of sustainable urbanization.
Solid Waste Landfilling: Concepts, Processes, Technology provides information on technologies that promote stabilization and minimize environmental impacts in landfills. As the main challenges in waste management are the reduction and proper treatment of waste and the appropriate use of waste streams, the book satisfies the needs of a modern landfill, covering waste pre-treatment, in situ treatment, long-term behavior, closure, aftercare, environmental impact and sustainability. It is written for practitioners who need specific information on landfill construction and operation, but is also ideal for those concerned about the possible return of these sites to landscapes and their subsequent uses for future generations. Includes input by international contributors from a vast number of disciplines Provides worldwide approaches and technologies Showcases the interdisciplinary nature of the topic Focuses on sustainability, covering the lifecycle of landfills under the concept of minimizing environmental impact Presents knowledge of the legal framework and economic aspects of landfilling
