Costa Rica launches waste management projects in rural areas

The national government of Costa Rica has opened two waste management facilities in the Turrialba-Jiménez rural territory, located in the country's Cartago province.

One of the projects entailed the construction of a transfer center for recoverable waste in the town of Juan Viñas in Jiménez. The center will be used to host solid waste separation activities for the garbage collected in the area for the subsequent reuse of some of that waste.

Construction of the initiative required an investment of 46mn colons (US$80,000), 42mn of which were provided by rural development institute INDER, while the remainder came from municipal government's coffers.

A second project expanded the Jiménez municipality's composting center, which is where the area's organic waste is transported for subsequent treatment. The compost produced at the center is then sold to local farmers for its use in agricultural production. Inder provided 62.2mn colons to carry out the project, while the municipal government invested 7.8mn.

According to information from the Costa Rican government, the country produces 4,000t of waste a day, of which 3,000 are disposed of in sanitary landfills, while the remainder ends up in streets, rivers, and natural areas. Only about 1.26% of the recyclable waste produced in Costa Rica is currently reused.

PICTURED: Costa Rican president Luis Guillermo Solís during a visit to the transfer center for recoverable waste. CREDIT: Gobierno de la República de Costa Rica.