Ref: PER673_06 Sustainable Solid Waste Management Program in the city of Carhuaz and the School of Planning and Environmental Municipal Management.

Worldwide, tens of millions of people suffer from improper disposal of solid wastes- through contamination of air and water, and as a vector for transmission of disease, to cite just a few examples. Ciudad Saludable (CS) saw in the pollution issues that were challenging the city of Carhuaz not only an intractable problem, but also an opportunity: building a community-based industry of efficient solid waste management systems that facilitate cleaner cities and healthy individuals.

The objectives of the project are; to work with public agencies to ensure trash removal services were coordinated and backed by public officials; to support initiatives to combat illegal dumping; to conduct public education campaigns to change habits of individuals and large institutions; to support the establishment and operation of community-Organized collection, recycling and disposal micro-enterprises and operate an organic demonstration farm to train farmers in using compost and recycled organic waste.

CS helps to create income-generating micro-enterprises, which complement one another throughout every stage of the waste management cycle, and to organize a network that assures both the efficiency of the overall operation and community participation in the planning, execution, evaluation and fine-tuning of the endeavor. CS frequently meets with public officials and municipal administrators to assure that the work of the community-based system is effectively coordinated with the garbage and trash removal services of many municipalities. In order to make this model sustainable, CS has organized a broad array of public information and education programs on environmental and health issues. Much of that work is focused on women''''''''s organizations and school-aged youth, but media campaigns are also part of that effort. We have also experimented with theater as a vehicle for transmitting our message. Finally, we have established an organic farm to train farmers in using compost and other materials from organic waste.