The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the Americas, the continent with the highest number of COVID-related deaths according to WHO statistics. In Latin America, strict confinement conditions at the beginning of the pandemic put recycling activity to a halt and augmented the consumption of plastic as a barrier to stop the spread of the virus. The lack of data to understand waste management dynamics complicates waste management strategy adjustments aimed at coping with COVID-19. As a novel contribution to the waste management data gap for Latin America, this study uses a virtual and participatory methodology that collects and generates information on household solid waste generation and composition. Data was collected between June and November 2021 in six countries in Latin America, with a total of 503 participants. Participants indicated that the pandemic motivated them to initiate or increase waste reduction (41%), waste separation (40%), and waste recovery (33%) activities. Forty-three percent of participants perceived an increase in total volume of their waste; however, the quantitative data showed a decrease in household waste generation in Peru (−31%), Honduras (−25%), and Venezuela (−82%). No changes in waste composition were observed. Despite the limited sample size, this data provides a much-needed approximation of household waste generation and composition in the pandemic situation during 2021. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-022-10771-9.
RESUMEN La gestión de residuos urbanos es un problema por resolver en toda ciudad, pero los estudios recientes han soslayado la gestión de las entidades responsables en el tema. Para solventar esto, se presenta un estudio de caso sobre la gestión de residuos urbanos con una metodología holística de análisis organizacional. Con esta metodología se logra un acercamiento profundo y sistemático a las dimensiones constitutivas de una organización, lo que abona a la comprensión de la gestión en ambientes complejos. El estudio se centra en la entidad responsable del manejo de residuos urbanos, en la segunda ciudad más grande de México, Guadalajara, y que vive una problemática grave en el rubro.
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted Latin America, the continent with the highest number of cases and Covid-related deaths. Strict confinement conditions at the beginning of the pandemic put to a halt recycling activities and augmented the consumption of plastic as a barrier to stop the spread of the virus. In Latin America the lack of data to understand the waste management dynamics difficult the adjustment of waste management strategies to cope with the Covid-19. As a novel contribution to the waste management data gap for Latin America, this study uses a virtual and participatory methodology that collects and generates information on household solid waste generation and composition. Data was collected between June and November 2021 in six countries in the Latin America region, with a total of 503 participants. Participants indicated that the pandemic motivated them to initiate or increase waste reduction (41%), waste separation (40%) and waste recovery (33%) activities. 43% of participants perceived and increase on their total volume of waste; however, the quantitative data showed a decrease on household waste generation in Peru (-31%), Honduras (-25%) and Venezuela (-82%). No changes in waste composition were observed. Despite the limited sample size, this data provides a much-needed approximation of household waste generation and composition in a pandemic situation during 2021.
The management of urban waste is a problem for any city, but recent studies have ignored the management of the entities responsible for this issue. To solve this, a case study on urban waste management with a holistic organizational analysis methodology is presented. With this methodology, a profound and systematic approach to the constitutive dimensions of and organization is achieved, which contributes to the understanding of management in complex environments. The study is made about the responsible entity of urban solid waste management, in the second biggest city of Mexico, Guadalajara, and who lives a serious problem in the field.
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