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Innovations and opportunities in solid waste
management in mountain cities
Despite the various challenges of implementing SWM in large
mountain cities (which as alluded to earlier, relate more to levels
of development than altitude/terrain), there are valuable lessons
and examples of good practice that can be drawn on from a
number of mountain cities:
Policies and legislation
Some countries have made significant progress on waste
legislation over recent years. Peru (Del Pilar Tello Espinoza
et al., 2010) and Bolivia
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recently approved laws on waste.
Ecuador and Colombia also have well-developed national legal
frameworks that drive the development of local regulations,
which apply to large mountainous cities. Mexico has federal and
state legislation, as well as local regulations. In Nairobi, the City
Council has established policies for the operation of services,
private participation in recycling and composting, and the formal
registration of collectors.
Creationofmetropolitanorganizations andeconomiesof scale
Initiatives to create metropolitan organizations that bring
together local governments and municipalities have, in some
cases, improved SWM by generating economies of scale and
optimizing the use of land for landfills, treatment plants and
recycling. Examples include the metropolitan area comprising La
Paz, El Alto and four other Bolivian municipalities. Also in Bolivia, a
metropolitan region, Kanata, was created to provide solutions to
common problems through joint integrated projects, including
the implementation of a metropolitan SWM project. Kanata
comprises the city of Cochabamba and six smaller municipalities.
Composting
Composting is one way for municipalities to recycle and reduce
the amount of waste which ends up in dumpsites and landfills,
helping to extend the lifetime of landfills and reducing the
amount of leachates, greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
Compostingof organicwaste is increasingly common, particularly
where there is a market for compost in urban horticulture
and local farming (Coffey and Coad, 2010). South Africa has a
Leachate treatment facilities for a landfill in La Paz, Bolivia.
Photo
©
SWM Department, Ministry of Environment and Water, Bolivia