Recycling for a new Environment!, Bolivia

Project name: Recycling for a new Environment!

Project location: Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Website: http://www.techo.org/paises/bolivia/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TECHObolivia/?fref=ts

Project description:

The project "Recycling for a New Environment!" was carried out by TECHO in June 2016, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It took place in the communities of Santiago Parada and Urbanizaciones Unidas.
The main objective of the project was contributing to improving environmental awareness in both of these communities.
Throughout the implementation volunteers and local communities have built:
2 large waste disposals
6 waste disposals around the main square
60 waste disposals produced of recycled products

Beyond the production of these disposals, we understood that it was important to create awareness among the neighbors giving differents training about the issue of garbage waste and recycling. In this stage we have worked together with EMACRUZ which has special trainings on the matters of the garbage waste and recycling.
Additionally, we did direct work on the field, cleaning the community’s green area and putting garbage
containers around it, together with three trash cans in each neighborhood, so that the people could have a place where to separate the garbage, also creating a commitment of the National company garbage collector to go to the neighborhood and collect the garbage.
To ensure the continuity of the project, we worked out an action plan with the neighbors to continue working on the issue of the garbage waste.

Goal and purpose of the project:

The overall goal of the project:
Contributing to improving Environmental awareness in developing societies;

The specific objectives of the project are:
Contribute to the creation of a recycling station and awareness-raising campaign;
Raise awareness among alumni and the public in general on Environmental challenges through online and offline campaigns and communication.

1 ) Local volunteers will participate in the training of local communities on Environmental topics as well as Recycling.
These activities are planned to be conducted in two different locations in the Santa Cruz region, in conjunction with the local partner organisations: TECHO Bolivia, EMACRUZ and Natura Foundation Bolivia.
2) Throughout the Preparation phase, Implementation phase and Completion phase, the team will have a communication through the Social Media of the foundation. The idea is trying to get the more attention of the population over the issues and raise awareness about it.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

The main motivation of doing the project was the communities and the neighbors. The issue of the garbage waste was pointed out by the people living in both communities and it was a first step to fight back the problematic and trying to change the custom of the neighbors.
Around 80% of all waste in the Santa Cruz region in Bolivia is placed in open-air fields populated by communities which are not properly controlled by authorities or any other institutions. In Santiago Parada and Urbanizaciones Unidad, the open-air waste field is located right next to a local community suffering from the lack of waste management and regulation.These communities not only suffer from a lack of waste management, but from local enterprises who leave their waste in these lands. To specify further, 30 of every 100 kg of waste that is deposited there are never collected or dealt with. Finally, these wastes end up in puddles and rivers contaminating the water. These factors led us to start questioning about the issue of within informal settlements, which inspired us to create this initiative. Particularly, it was the two communities themselves which asked for the intervention of external experts to raise awareness about this problem among the residents, which was of high inspiration for wanting to implement this project. Below you can see an image of such type of illegal activity by a local enterprise in the community of Urbanizaciones Unidas, Santa Cruz region in Bolivia.

Use of prize money:

Given the good results obtained with this project, we have a projection to replicate it in other neighborhoods in order to reach more neighbors and to provide an improvement in the quality of life of its neighborhoods. It even implied a change in the attitude of TECHO’s staff which increased the optimization of resources and the use of materials more friendly with the environment during the daily work in the communities. The money will thus be use in carrying the project in other communities and also been able to continue with the process already started.