This article was auto translated from Spanish to English, and is currently being reviewed for corrections.
With the goal of strengthening and raising awareness of local initiatives that promote waste prevention and responsible waste management, the Zero Waste Routes initiative selected a series of in-person tours organized by local organizations in various Latin American countries.
This initiative arises amid growing concern over the waste crisis and the environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with the current model of production and consumption. In this context, zero-waste strategies have proven to be an effective alternative for reducing waste generation through practices such as reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting, while also promoting environmental justice and strengthening local economies.
In particular, reuse and refill systems are becoming increasingly important as replicable and scalable solutions for moving toward healthier and more sustainable communities. However, many of these initiatives remain little known outside their local areas, which limits their potential for impact and replication.
To address this situation, the Zero Waste Routes project organizes in-person tours coordinated by local organizations, allowing decision-makers, government representatives, academics, community leaders, and other key stakeholders to see successful initiatives in action firsthand.
The tours include visits to projects with at least one year of operation and verifiable results, linked to practices such as refilling containers, washing and reusing utensils, decentralized composting, and cooperatives. In addition, each experience is documented through audiovisual recordings that are incorporated into a regional database of success stories.
The initiative aims to create opportunities for exchange between established initiatives and strategic stakeholders, as well as to produce materials that contribute to the dissemination and systematization of lessons learned about zero-waste models in the region.
Below, we share the selected organizations and initiatives that are part of this first edition of Zero Waste Routes:
Quito, Ecuador: https://youtu.be/zAfFljwO-uU
Entrejardines takes us to the community compost bin and garden in the La Floresta neighborhood of Quito; next, we visit Pure!, a tourism company that shares how it has adopted reuse and source separation practices within its office; and we conclude at Pim’s restaurant, where we learn how they manage their solid and organic waste.
Zona de los Santos, Costa Rica: https://youtu.be/VTS_io9FWok
The Zona de los Santos Monument Defenders Association shows us how they’re working to preserve a highly biodiverse area by managing waste from coffee cultivation byproducts, such as those produced at Coope Tarrazu and Coopedota. We then wrap up with a stop at the Preserve Planet Collection Center (CAPP) to learn more about waste separation and the recovery of soda bottle caps.
Magallanes, Chile: https://youtu.be/fOl7LHwXlEg
The Lenga Foundation takes us to the southernmost region of Chile, where we begin our tour at Compost Coiron and its organic waste management project. There, we also learn how tourism is contributing to the collapse of the municipal landfill in Puerto Natales. In Punta Arenas, we visit the Puro Viento textile workshop, a reuse initiative that uses textile waste and large-format advertising banners to make items such as backpacks and pencil cases, among others. Finally, we arrive in Puerto Williams to learn more about the municipal waste management initiative.
