National university of colombia institute of environmental studies idea

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBIA

INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES -IDEA

Programme for Urban Environmental Studies - Bogotá

THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

A follow up to ‘Best Practices’ from the South and the North, after Habitat II


Santa Fe de Bogotá, July 1997

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBIA
INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - IDEA

Programme for Urban Environmental Studies - Bogotá


Project Title: The Cultural Dimension of Waste Management: A follow up to ‘Best Practices’ from the South and the North, after Habitat II
Responsible Organisation: IDEA, National University of Colombia
Project Director: Prof. Margarita Pacheco
Position within organisation: Researcher and co-ordinator of the Programme for

Urban Environment Studies in Bogota

Person authorised to sign

the agreements on behalf

of the donor: Victor Manuel Moncayo, Rector of the National University of Colombia
Address: IDEA- UNAL Cra 50 Nº 27-70 Bloque 7B Unidad Camilo Torres . Bogota, Colombia
Telephone: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Purpose of the request for financial support:
This study, through the collaboration of an interdisciplinary group formed by national researchers from IDEA-UNAL, and in collaboration with international researchers, formulates criteria to make a follow-up to “Best Practices” as defined by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II.
Through the analysis presented in the case studies, the project aims to make of the cultural dimension of waste management a key input to identify differences and similarities of ‘practices’ and social actors engaged in forms of integral management. Through the identification of ‘best practices’ the project is looking for models to implement a follow up to these practices as a contribution to the building of urban sustainable development in the North as well as in the South in terms of exchange of knowledge and replicability of the results obtained. The results from the different case studies will represent an important source of information available to communities and municipalities. This, in order to improve the current models of mangement will be achieved through the feedback provided by the communication strategy of the study (see chapter 9 for more details on this process). The value added by this research project to the living conditions of the communities will consist of “tools” that the actors themselves can easily apply to evaluate and improve their own ‘practices’. The fieldwork stage of the project should permit the communities to step up from the level of information providers to that of active participants in the evaluation and improvement of their own experiences.
The exchange of expertise between academic research centres, non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations represents an important feature of this project: firstly since this exchange is considered as a key-point to establish models for a follow-up to ‘Best Practices’ and, secondly because it constitutes a pillar for the development of new forms of co-operation between cities and all those social actors who are currently contributing to the creation and implementation of sustainable management models.
In this sense, the study has the collaboration and expertise of the Dutch NGO ‘WASTE’; ‘ENDA Third World, and in particular its offices in Bogotá, Paris and Dakar; the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies IHS of Rotterdam, which has developed studies in India, the ‘Fundación Social’ of Bogotá and the National Association of Recycler of Colombia (A.N.R.).
The proposal should elaborate forms of follow-up to help the continuity of successful practices. Preliminary material related to the Colombian cases has already been gathered within the studies conducted by the Urban Waste Expertise Programme sponsered by WASTE in Holland and locally co-ordinated by IDEA and ENDA in Colombia.
The National University of Colombia, the institution by which the project has initially been conceived and promoted, contributes to this study thorugh its Urban Environmental Research Programme. The latter, as an advisor to the Colombian Ministry of Environment, has played a major role in the building of integrated waste management research and urban environmental planning in the country.
The analysis of the selected cases will permit to set the basis for an enriching co-operation between cities and social actors interested in the building of new models of Integrated Waste ManagementI (IWM) on the lines traced by the Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and the Human Settlements Conference, Habitat II which took place in Istanbul in 1996. These laid basis should be useful to the formulation of urban environmental policies, fostering a change in the attitude of individuals and stimulating a new consciousness in their behaviour as waste producers and consumers.
Key words: Urban Environment /Culture/Integrated Waste Management/ Capacity building / Inputs for policy making

Co-operation and Exchange.

Duration of the project: Eight months: October ‘97-June ‘98
Total amount of the project: US $ 386.442

Sought funding: US $ 330.842

Contributions to the design and co-ordination phase of the project:
Ministry of

Environment of Colombia: US $ 5.600
Institute of Environmental

Studies - IDEA: US $ 10.000
WASTE (Urban Waste

Expertise Programme - UWEP): US $ 40.000
Total: US $ 55.600
The initial phase of project formulation has permitted to organise a nationally-based team of researchers in Colombia, and an international team of researchers and consultants interested in participating to a southern initiative after Habitat II.
The utilisation of the fore mentioned preliminary material on the Colombian case studies related to community based micro-enterprises has been faciltated by WASTE (Holland) and IDEA, within the framework of their scientific and financial collaboration to this study.
GENERAL CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
2. FRAMING THE ISSUE
3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Culture and Urban Environment

3.2. The CEP Framework (Complex Environmental Perspective).

3.3. The issue of population and of the different types of waste that it generates.
4. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
4.1 General Objective

4.2 Specific Objectives
5. PROPOSAL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A MODEL FOR A FOLLOW UP TO PRACTICES OF INTEGRATED SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT (ISWM).
6. A FOLLOW UP TO “BEST PRACTICES” PRESENTED AT HABITAT II.
6.1 Colombian Cases Studies
- Santa Fe de Bogotá

National Association of Recyclers (ANR).

‘Rescatar’ (Community-based micro-enterprise of public services).

Co-operative ‘El Porvenir’.

- Manizales

‘Prosperar’ and ‘Ciudad Verde’ (Community-based and “mixed” enterprises in the framework of the ‘Bio-city’ Plan of Development)

- Caribbean Coast

Sewage System Without Solid Waste Dragging project and its application in San Zenón and Granada (Department of Sucre).

6.2 International Cases Studies
- Portland, United States (Waste management within the development plan of the city. Private sector participation in waste management).

- Bangalore, India (The activity of women recyclers).

- Bamako, Mali & Dakar, Senegal (Work with young people in low-income areas).

- Holland (Waste separation at source and citizen culture for local management).

7. METHODOLOGY
7.1. Conceptualisation

7.2. Elaboration of the Terms of Reference

7.2.1 Terms of Reference Proposal

7.3. Field Work

7.4. Case Studies Analysis

7.5. Formulation of the Follow Up Models

7.6 Project Evaluation
8. COMMUNICATION AND RESULT DISSEMINATION STRATEGIES
8.1. Communication Strategy
8.1.1. Internal Strategy
8.1.2. External Strategy
8.1.3. International Seminar
8.2. Dissemination of Results Strategy
8.3. Distribution Plan
9. EXPECTED RESULTS
10. REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
11. PROJECT BUDGET
12. ATTACHMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The National Constitution of Colombia in its article No. 70 states: “The State will promote research, science, development and the spread of national cultural values”. Of the same token, Article No. 71 adds “Development plans will as general feature include the fostering of sciences and of culture. The State will create incentives to people and institutions that will develop contributions to the advance of science, technology and to the enrichment of all others cultural manifestations. The State will also offer special support to those people and institutions working in the field of the above mentioned activities”.
According to the principles enunciated in the previous paragraph, the present project proposal seeks new insights for the realisation and evaluation of ‘Best Practices’ contributing to the making of cultures promoting sustainable development.
The current legislative framework (Law No.99/1993) establishes the National Environmental System (SINA) and regulates the conduct of national, regional and municipal environmental authorities. In Colombia, solid and liquid waste management is still implemented as a “sector-bound activity”, although the law No. 99 considers the importance to integrate it into the building processes of the SINA. This goal is just beginning to be understood by the various segments of society.
The National Constitution in its article No. 78 affirms: “the law will regulate the modalities of control and monitoring of the quality of goods and services offered to the community, as well as the information that has to be given to the public through their commercialisation”. The proposed research aims to provide information on the different ways by which waste is managed. This in terms of its management as a public service in itself, but also regarding the relationships that this public service establishes with other social actors involved in various ways in the chain of waste management, both as producers and consumers.
This new approach aims to promote collective efforts for the consolidation of the Environmental System of Research established in Colombia by the Decree No. 1600, which calls for scientific and technical contributions aimed at the strengthening of the National Plan of Development ‘El Salto Social’ in its sub-programme ‘Best Cities and Populations’ (1994-1998 ).
The CONPES document No. 2739 of 1994 proposes modalities about the way the Environmental and Habitat programmes should be formulated which include:
- Develop and foster the use of appropriate technology related to urban services.

- Elaborate an urban environmental strategy outline.

- Articulate research projects together with training programmes oriented to the improvement of urban and territorial management.
These proposals have as their main aim the improvement of the management capacity within urban and territorial planning. In this regard, it has to be underlined the interest manifested by Colciencias¹ in increasing the level and the frequency of knowledge and collaboration exchange within the scientific community, as well as in promoting the temporary participation of foreign researchers in Colombian-based projects and, finally, the interest in the creation of interdisciplinary and international working environments.
Agenda 21 (in its chapter 20, 21 and 28 and 31/32), promotes the elaboration of Local Agendas and integrated waste management. Of the same token, the Habitat II Declaration (Istanbul ‘96) proposes the inclusion of waste management in the cultural and social processes generated by environmental planning in its different territorial levels. The Colombian Ministry of Environment has also included in its urban environmental policies the elaboration of Local Environmetal Action Plans and integrated waste management programmes to be incorporated in the mentioned plans. This, as an implemetation of the Agenda 21 at the local level, is a challenge that the present project is directly facing when analysing the different case studies.
The Institute of Environmental Studies - IDEA of the National University of Colombia supports the processes related to the construction of urban sustainable development and the activity of the Ministry of Environment of Colombia in the elaboration of the urban environmental policy.² This activity of support and research has been characterised by a long time continuity represented by the major role played in the presentation of Colombia’s ‘Best Practices’ to Habitat II. In this context, the National University has also been participating to the development of WASTE, ENDA, IHS experiences in their own international NGO framework at international levels, while at the national level has been developing linkages with the ‘Fundación Social’ and the A.N.R.
After Habitat II, these organisations have kept alive their collaboration for the strengthening of their interactions and networking and are also participating in the follow up phase of the “Best Practices” presented at the United Nations conference on Human Settlements of Istanbul ‘96.
The present research proposal aims to contribute to the enrichment of the reflection on the city as waste producer on a continuative basis. The term “urban” which defines a complex social-economical and cultural system within which citizens develop activities that produce different types of solid and liquid waste. This has a significant impact on the quality of life of the inhabitants and on the equilibrium of the strategic ecosystems that constitute the city, the region and, ultimately, the planet itself.
The kind of management currently given to the various types of waste is representative of the distortion existent within society face the relationship between human beings and ecosystem. We treat, think of, and manage waste as if it were not part of our living together; as if the rivers, the streets, the land of which a city is made, and the public space in general were something separated from us: a black hole in which all what we throw would disappear.
Within this framework, this interdisciplinary research will contribute to a better understanding of the cultural dimension of urban waste management, as an element of the processes of urban environmental management. These processes are currently on-going in cities of the tropics as well as in those where the presence of the four seasons determines different patterns of waste production activities, based on different cultural and climatic needs. Information and education activities lead by public agencies as well as by civil society organisations should in this sense be related to the integrated approach of waste management.
The observation and the analysis from a southern perspective of case studies in cities of the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia and Colombia will be useful to establish the basis for a national policy of co-operation amongst cities in terms of local environmental planning and integrated waste management.
This concern was amongst the key arguments put forward by Colombia at the ‘Habitat II’ summit. However, it requires to be developed more in-depth in terms of urban environmental policy in order to establish alliances and programmes of collaboration between municipalities, regional corporations, research centres, private and business sectors, NGOs and CBOs, public services enterprises and multilateral founding agencies.
All these social actors which are actively participating in the planning process of cities play a role in the collective construction of a process of cultural transformation of urban management. This has to be remarked with particular strength for what it concerns one of the pillars of this research: the issue of waste management. In fact, the social adoption of technology for waste management, as well as uses, mores and believes associated to the way waste is managed, the various forms of social organisation that interact within these processes and the way alliances and consensus are established and built, all are significant aspects of the cultural dimension of ‘Best Practices’.
In Colombia and in other countries new political spaces have opened to the inclusion of the industrial and services sectors as stake-holders in the process of generation of clean forms of production. In this sense, it is important to include into the analysis of all the case studies mentioned as part of this research project, the activity carried out by various enterprises in terms of management of industrial and commercial waste.
As an example, the experience of ‘Carton-Colombia’, a branch of Smurfit (an enterprise which produces cardboard and its derivatives) and ‘Peldar’ will be analysed as representative of what said above. ‘Carton-Colombia’ has been buying from low-income groups of waste-pickers, while the glass producer enterprise ‘Peldar’ represents an interesting case since it bases its production on a great percentage of recycled material bought from community-based enterprises which are in turn also members of the fore mentioned National Association of Recyclers (ANR).
In Colombia, NGOs such as ‘Social Foundation’ and ENDA have played an interesting role in the negotiation process between the small scale industries (SSI) and the big enterprises, thus highly contributing to the increase of capacity building and social organisation of low-income waste pickers. These interactions and alliances have been setting the premises for a new culture of waste management that should be recognised by the state and supported in order to improve the living conditions of those who are the poorest within the long chain of waste management.

2. FRAMING THE ISSUE
The ‘Best Practices’ experiences on waste management from the North and the South of the planet, proposed by this project as its research object, will illustrate the dynamics and the evolution of cultural and social processes from an integrated perspective, functional to the exploration of the possibility to replicate them in different cultural settings.
The follow up to these experiences, Colombian as well as international, will have to result in the formulation of urban environmental management models, which are fundamental to the construction of sustainability as well as to the establishing of a cultural and technological offer related to co-operation and exchange of expertise and experience.
The Colombian and international teams will look at the generation of policies capable to transform social actors (the human components) in terms of new behaviours and attitudes towards waste management and handling, and will also focus on those programmes in which the re-conceptualisation of waste as a valuable resource to transform citizen’s behaviours is given a primary role.
At the same time great attention will be placed on the utilisation of technological and economic resources employed to make of waste management a source of income, social progress, citizenship coexistence, improvement of the quality of the habitat and protection and conservation of urban ecosystems.
In all case studies, the actions undertaken will allow to propose new ways of diminishing waste production and convert it in different forms of energy generation. To slow down, reduce and prevent environmental impacts on waters, soils and atmosphere due to the free circulation of waste, represent a cultural fact of transcendent importance to the present and future generations.

3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Culture and Urban Environment
Conceptually the project begins with a reflection on the idea of ‘Culture’ as a strategy of adaptation to the medium (A. Angel: 1995), in deepening this reflection it touches upon the definition of the city as a cultural system.
These existing relations of production and consumption have an impact upon the environmental medium, resulting in the construction and shaping of different contributions and varied representations (cultural, social, economic), related to the access people have to resources and to the perception they have of and interaction they exert with their environment.
The outline of urban environmental policy that are at present being discussed by the Ministry of Environment, represent a reference framework for the development of these research project.
Different disciplines show their desire to interpret human behaviour, in this sense as Mario Satz says: “Within the change of paradigm and the shifting of a cosmo-vision that we are currently living, physics recurs to the old Vedic texts to explain its finding, biology rediscovers Hermes Trismegist and his laws of correspondence, mathematics finds in fractions the morphologic reciprocity between the big and the small, and poetry turns towards science to rescue from laboratories and theorems the new metaphors that act like interdisciplinary scares, since in the great depth of the gnosis abysses the construction of bridges that allow for the crossing, results as essential to us as it never was before” (Satz, 1996).
This allusion gives us breath to reaffirm the possibility to look at urban environmental phenomena from the perspective of culture as a contemporary trend of thinking that should be more exerted and socialised.
From here, it comes a question that can have various answers: Why is the cultural dimension important within environmental practice?
Environmental tensions are being generated by a type of culture that requires change in its values, behaviours and attitudes face the natural and transformed medium. Culture tends to be linked to the formulation of policies, programmes and investment projects and to be limited in its definition. It is generally seen as plastic or artistic individual expression, as craft-making or folk production, as a gesture without future and long term impact on the construction of the city.
The concept of culture implicit in this research includes in its formulation the elements that make possible the living together in a city, these are the respect for diversity, for communal rules and the preservation of the surroundings as an essential component of the development of a community that has built its own culture within the city.
To understand and analyse the cultural dimension of solid and liquid waste management means to understand the cultural complexity and diversity that are contained in each single experience. These reflect the way in which each community constructs the practical and symbolic processes of ownership of new technologies and forms of organisation and, in general, of new political and cultural models of waste management.
The definition of the conceptual framework will include the presentation of formal definitions of some fundamental terms. These will include the following:
- Culture

- Urban culture

- Citizenship culture

- Citizens participation

- Cultural diversity

- Cultural fact

- Waste

- “Best Practice” or “Good Practice”

- Domestic waste

- Commercial waste

- Industrial waste

- Dangerous waste

- Waste management

- The symbology of waste

- Urban Environmental Management

- Sustainable Urban and Human Development

- Technological transfer

- North-south co-operation

- South-south co-operation

- Urban Environmental Policy framework

- The integration of waste management into urban and regional environmental policies.

- The relationship between ecosystem and culture.

- Complex Environmental Perspective and Waste Management.
The analysis and definition of these concepts will be developed by the national and international teams through local workshops and e-mail discussions. The WEB PAGE set by the project should permit other groups to join and interact within the aims of the project. This e-mail interaction has been on going since the formulation phase of the proposal and should be permanently open to inputs and interdisciplinary expertise.