Waste Management Outlook for Mountain Regions

Innovations and opportunities in solid waste management in mountain cities

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

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 7 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.

Leachate treatment facilities for a landfill in La Paz, Bolivia. Photo © SWM Department, Ministry of Environment and Water, Bolivia

32