The Wasteocene Project

The Wasteocene Project, ENVS 220 Fall 2018, Mackenzie Hoult, Matt Weston and Zane Leonard.

Top of the Hourglass

Background- As we have analyzed different countries environmental impacts in different ways throughout the semester we have decided to shift our focus to the impact of waste in developing countries. We’ve consistently looked at and linked to the Kuznet’s curve, which states that as countries become more developed their impact on the environment worsens. We aim to analyze this curve with the effect of waste by comparing how developing countries deal with waste management compared to developed countries. In order to situate this waste management research, we are concentrating in Chile, as it is one of the most developed countries in Latin America but facing a major waste management issue. We are specifically looking at Chile’s, and other developing/developed countries, neoliberal transformation into democracy and how this might negatively impacts their environmental policies. We are also looking at the informal waste sector transforming into the formal waste sector, and waste to energy as a major solution for waste management issues. Using these research indicators, we will analyze waste management issues in Chile and aim to propose solutions and ideas for further research into a situated project in Chile.

Neoliberal transition to Democracy

• As developing countries attempt to transition into democracy, there can often be issues pertaining to environmental politics. In Chile, as they shift from neoliberalism to democracy, environmental policy and action becomes constrained by legacies of dictatorship hostile to sustainability (Carruthers). Historically, austere neoliberal states give very little importance and offer very little funding for environmental issues and institutions. Because of this shift from neoliberalism to democracy, countries such as Chile run into issues as they try to “borrow environmental policy architecture from 1st world models when put into practice, neoliberal practices prevail”(Carruthers). This seems to suggest that developing countries might need to transition into their own version of environmental policies instead of directly following in the footsteps of developed countries.

Informal to Formal waste sector

• Within developing countries informal waste sectors have been created in order to create jobs and help with the extreme waste that is left unmanaged by the government.  The informal sector consists of the “individuals, groups and micro-enterprises performing informal waste services and/or informal valorization ‘but are not sponsored, financed, recognized or allowed by the formal solid waste authorities’” (Aparcana, 595). The issue with this type of waste management is it creates poor working and living conditions as well as negatively affects the health of a large portion of the poorer parts of a developing country. Transitioning this informal waste sector into a formal waste sector would give developing countries a chance to improve social and economic conditions as well as create jobs and efficiency in waste management. A report released by OECD stated, “ This type of work only allows for basic survival. This area in Chile is under development… it opens up a field for the collection, transportation, recycling treatment and disposal of waste, as well as energy use of organic waste or waste exchange between companies” (OECD, 43). Shifting from the informal to the formal waste sector gives developing countries an opportunity to greatly improve and take advantage of waste management.

Waste to energy

• One very important and current solution to waste management in developing countries and in Chile is the idea of waste to energy. This type of technology gives countries the chance to efficiently manage their waste and improve their environmental impact from waste. These facilities, “save valuable landfill space and produce clean and renewable energy through the combustion of MSW in specifically designed power plants which are equipped with state-of-the-art pollution control technologies. The WTE facility produced for Santiago… trash volume is reduced by 90% (Estevez, 3). Waste to energy is an efficient solution to waste management issues, especially in Chile. In order to further research the possibility of these types of facilities, it would be imperative to look at specific environmental policies in Chile and how much citizens have a say in the switch to more renewable waste management options.          ​

Annotated Bibliography- The link to our full annotated bibliography and library you can find here. From our findings it is clear that  waste management is a key environmental issues especially in developing countries. Electronic waste and solid waste management were the largest issues that were cited and discussed multiple times. Looking at our specific situated context articles there are other environmental issues such as indigenous land rights, that became specific to Chile as we researched. You can find all articles in this library and click on the separate tags to look at specific resources we found.

GIS Map-

The HDI is recorded and calculated by the United Nations Development Program. According to the organization, HDI consists of, “Life expectancy at birth is provided by the UN Population Division in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA); mean years of schooling (MYS) is based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) educational attainment data, for countries for which UIS data are not available, Barro and Lee (2016) estimates were used; expected years of schooling (EYS) is provided by UIS; and GNI per capita (in 2011 $PPP) by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. For several countries, mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling are estimated from nationally representative household surveys and for some countries GNI was obtained from the UN Statistical Division’s database – National Accounts Main Aggregates Database.” This is mapped along with World Bank data on MSW generation per day as sourced by World Bank.

Concept Map- Below is a concept map we comprised on the main issues with waste management. The two largest issues in waste, we found, were electronics and solid waste which connect to many other issues that arise when waste management is neglected. Chile is also included as this is our situated context, and here you can see the different waste management issues Chile faces compared to other countries.

Middle of the Hourglass 

Focus Question- How can the Chilean city of Santiago better manage waste in order to improve their environmental standards and living conditions for their population?

This question is aimed to situate us in our potential study abroad location and we will aim to find potential answers to it as we do our situated research. We wanted to focus on the general management of waste as Santiago has a large issue with municipal solid waste as well as landfill waste. This relates to our focus question as waste is an issue in many developing countries and we aim to look at Chile specifically in order to provide  some answers to what can be done or changed. Below you will find our proposed research steps and reasoning for them.

Methodology- Chile is a leading country in South America in terms of development and has seen significant growth in the last decade. With this growth there come challenged, as we have shown above, with the management of solid waste. For Chile specifically, one of their largest waste issues in municipal solid waste management. As Chile has become more developed, their population has grown and their need for waste management has become especially prevalent. For our project proposal, we are looking at how as countries become more developed, they may also become more resource-efficient. WTE (Waste to Energy), as well as implementing proper waste management systems and awareness may change this. Political priorities as well as education surrounding the issues may be a solution, as well as the implementation of WTE management strategies  to reduce landfill waste. We would like to survey citizens in Chile in order to compare statistics about waste in Chile. 

Field Based Data/Statistics– To follow up with the data we gathered a field study would be the next step. Using the cities metro lines we would conduct polling. Metro lines will allow us locations to survey at that are accessible by all classes and provide heavy foot traffic. Additionally public transportation is divided to all sections of the city not just the wealthy or poor areas. Starting out we may plan to ask an opened ended question such as, “What do you see as the greatest problem in the world today?” This can be followed but by something more specific possibly about climate change or waste like, “On a scale of 1-10 how concerned are you about waste buildup?” Then we can start to ask them what they feel the best approach to this problem may be while giving them a selection of options. It will then be important to ask HDI indicator questions. Planning to ask these after the other questions may be smart because they may be slightly more personal questions. Using the information gathered it should then be apparent to if the statistics remain consistent.

Analysis and Results- As this is a project proposal we don’t have any concrete results yet but there are a couple things we plan on doing in order to get helpful information and statistics for our situated project. We have created a rough timeline, shown below, of when this would all be laid out. Before we left for Chile we would do a pilot survey in Portland, asking residents similar questions and using public transport as to get a wide variety of Portland residents. This pilot survey would allow us to tweak and fix the way we ask certain questions and how different questions are received so we are more prepared when asking them in Chile. While in Santiago we would conduct our survey with Chileans measuring HDI indicators and waste management practices, this process would take 2-3 weeks. Once we return from Chile we would analyze our results and compare to what we anticipated to find before leaving, this analyzing of results would take about a month.

   Timeline

Bottom of Hourglass:

Comparison and Generalization- From our initial research we viewed a trend implying higher HDI to higher MSW generation, we would like to do further research, especially looking at other developed countries, as to why this is the case. From the surveys we will take in Chile we will not only measure quality of life but also look at why waste generation rises. Here we can sample the consumption of single use plastic, recycling habits and stigmas and participants food waste. Once we have gathered this information we can look at other locations from our GIS map that have large waste management issues like Santiago and compare the way their population and economy has been growing.

Further Research-  In further research we would like to further extrapolate a reason as to why MSW rises and what policies may be effective in shrinking this. Waste to energy is a possible solution that could be looked into. Another possible solution is better management of recycling. As we first posed in our framing question, is national development the solution to waste issues? We could look at more developed countries and if their management of waste has gotten better as they have progressed and what sort of management they have used. The couple potential solutions I listed above are some to be further researched and looked at within developing and developed countries.

Final Poster

Citations

“Chile´s Pathway to Green Growth: Measuring Progress at Local Level – Projects – Wikiprogress.” Accessed November 15, 2018. http://wikiprogress.org/data/dataset/chile-s-pathway-to-green-growth-measuring-progress-at-local-level.

Estevez, Paula. “Management of Municipal Solid Waste in Santiago, Chile: Assessing Waste-to-Energy Possibilities,” n.d., 32.

Carruthers, David. “Environmental Politics in Chile: Legacies of Dictatorship and Democracy.” Third World Quarterly 22, no. 3 (June 2001): 343–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590120061642.

Aparcana, Sandra. “Approaches to Formalization of the Informal Waste Sector into Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Review of Barriers and Success Factors.” Waste Management 61 (March 2017): 593–607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.12.028.

Featured Image picture: https://jetfarer.com/things-to-do-in-santiago-chile/