As part of the preparation to implement the Extended Producer Responsibility Act (REP), the Food and Beverage Association of Chile (AB Chile), together with the Association of Municipalities for Environmental Sustainability (Amusa) and KDM, launched the “Hoy Reciclo” garbage collection pilot, which will benefit more than 1,000 families in Colina and Quilicura.
The program involves selective collection of waste in homes, for which in each house a container of 120 liters will be delivered to store recyclable material, such as cartons, papers, plastic, aluminum and tetrapack containers, which will be collected once a week by a truck dedicated to this function, and then taken to a selection plant and continue with the recycling process.
For their part, the glasses must be arranged in different collection hoods arranged and operated by Cristalerías Chile in places close to the inhabitants of each community.
This new way of recycling will facilitate the process of household waste collection, as neighbors will not have to worry about going to a clean point and/or the separation of these items, which will then be done at KDM treatment and classification plants located in Quilicura and Til Til. From there they will move to the various recycling plants depending on the type of material.
The program joins the pilot in Providencia, started in September 2019 by AB Chile, which includes the collection in more than 63 thousand homes located in about 2 thousand buildings in the commune, with the aim of analyzing the results of this system for the implementation of the REP Law.
In this way, both pilot programs will allow to carry out studies relevant to the implementation of this system throughout Chile, both in houses and buildings, managing to collect background regarding recycling rates, the level of discard, the installed capacity of the country and the participation of the community, the latter being a key aspect for the correct implementation of the REP Law.
In this regard, Rodrigo Alvarez, a lawyer representing companies before the authorities, stressed the importance of this initiative, “which reaffirms the commitment that the industry has had for more than three years to the success of this standard. It is important to consider that, for the proper implementation of the REP Act, it is essential to have the commitment of citizens, so initiatives like this just seek to involve the population in this new way of recycling and to participate proactively. In parallel, we are already formally advancing the official formation of the first Collective Packaging Management System, promoted by companies of the food and beverage guild, AB Chile, together with companies from different productive sectors, through our request to the TDLC to rule on the matter”.
In principle, the pilot project will last one year and, in the case of Quilicura, contemplates the participation of condominiums located in the central park area of the commune, while in Colina the delimited area contemplates the El Remanso sector.
The waste will be collected once a week by the truck of “Today Recycling”, and then transferred to separation and recycling plants. In this respect, it is essential that in the case of containers containing food, liquids or other substances, they are clean dry and crushed by people before depositing them in the yellow container, in order to ensure their correct recycling.
The companies that make up the system are: Agrosuper, Arcor, CCU, Coca Cola Andina, Coca Cola Embonor, Carozzi, Watts, Nestlé, Unilever, Cambiaso, PF Alimentos, Pepsico, Ideal, Natura, Ecusa, Viña San Pedro, L’Oreal, BAT, Empresas Demaría, Grupo Falabella, Softys, AB InBev, Cencosud, Procter &
