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“A-RE-CO: Areco Reduce Consciente”

Awareness campaign on the separation at source of municipal solid waste in order to promote triple impact models and the circular economy.

Municipality

AR
San Antonio de Areco, Buenos Aires,

Category / Sub-Category / Topic

Environment, Waste management

Type of investment needed

Grant

Associated SDGs

The challenge

Since 2020, urban solid waste generated by citizens, public and private organizations has increased by 20%, generating 25 tons per day, of which only 9% is recovered (Municipal Environment Directorate Survey). The challenge is to generate the commitment of the entire community to recover 50% of the waste generated, introducing it into the production process and developing a sustainable circular economy.

The project

It is proposed to carry out a graphic and audiovisual communication campaign that invites the community in an educational way to separate the waste generated in their homes. 

The aim is to build a sustainable commitment of the actions to be carried out as public policy management, with each resident of the city being the protagonist. 

The initiative is designed to carry out actions at home, at work and also in public spaces, inspiring the community to care for and enjoy a sustainable city, minimizing the environmental impact (soil, air and water) and public health. It consists of 3 strategies:

1. Create the communication campaign: audiovisual material will be used to show the different realities of households and the destination of recyclable waste. We will also use graphic material such as posters, banners and brochures in order to make known the waste streams (cardboard, paper, glass, cans, plastics, among others) to be separated in the bells, which must always be clean and dry.

2. To build Ecopoints as a teaching space: where neighbors can approach, learn about, consult and also get their recyclables. The aim is to turn these points into teaching spaces through workshops and games for children, encouraging the reduction, separation and reuse of household waste.

3. Inclusion of returnable cups in events: our city celebrates more than 100 events a year, including festivals and public and private cultural programs. Since single-use plastics are one of the main sources of contamination, the use of returnable cups will encourage the community to minimize the use of disposable cups.

Know more...

San Antonio Areco is a rural town, and one of the oldest in the province of Buenos Aires, located only 113 km from the Federal Capital. The Municipality does not escape from the environmental problem of the increase in the generation of urban waste. Waste reduction is one of the concerns in the main cities of the world, where recycling programs are designed to move towards a circular economy beneficial to society. 

In Argentina, an average of 45,000 tons of urban solid waste is generated daily, which is equivalent to one ton of garbage every two seconds (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Argentina.gob.ar, 2023). The lack of legislation has been identified as one of the root causes of the problem, since although several bills have been presented for waste management, so far they have not been approved. 

Although there are 92 bells in the entire San Antonio de Areco district, which includes 3 rural localities for the 27,000 inhabitants, more than 1,000 businesses and industries and more than 60 institutions and public and private organizations have become large generators of waste in increasing quantities and have neither motivation nor awareness of the consequences and little commitment to change these practices. 

Within the framework of this system, it is very significant to point out that the municipal government spends a great deal of money on the process of collecting and transporting waste, which is the second most important expense after salaries. 

The actions promoted by the municipality and the network for change formed within the framework of the Local Innovators 2022 Program have been: i) the reduction of single-use plastics such as disposable cups, ii) the implementation of reusable cups at city events, and iii) the delivery of more than 5,000 reusable cups at the beginning of the year 2023. There is also the Environmental Caretakers program, where a group of people with different abilities participate in activities such as environmental walks or the making of eco-bottles, raising awareness in the community.

Video development: a video will be produced that reflects the different realities of citizens, emphasizing that we can all separate regardless of the physical location or economic resources to do so. The video will be disseminated in the media, networks and in waiting areas such as doctors' offices, banks, administrative offices, among others. 

Design of effective signage: In order to clarify how to separate and what goes in each container, didactic graphic materials will be designed: posters, banners, brochures, making known the waste streams to be separated in the bells, their location and that they should always be clean and dry. These will be installed in the green bells, black garbage cans, stores, behind municipal ballots and at specific points in the city

Design of Ecopoints: Identify strategic spaces in the city that are referenced by neighbors and will be open every day, with identified workers. Plots for the spaces should be eye-catching and explanatory, detailing the actions to be carried out during the year.Plotting the exterior, furnishing the interior with furniture and human resources will be available for their attention. 

Workshops at Ecopoints: Create a teaching space to raise awareness and train neighbors and visitors on the separation of the different waste streams and communicate the upcoming campaigns to be carried out in the city. It will be an educational play area for children. At the same time, there will be different activities such as ecocanje and workshops related to the care of the environment for different ages.

Use of Ecocups at cultural events: the aim is to minimize the use of single-use plastic at mass events and to continue raising awareness by implementing the use of Ecovasos (reusable cups) at public and private events in the city. To this end, Ecovasos (reusable cups) will be disseminated and printed according to the different events.

Audiovisual: 1 long video of 5 to 10 minutes, from which 5 spots or short videos can be made.

Graphic material: Printing of 400 posters and 2 banners to raise awareness about separation at source.

Design of Ecopoint as a teaching space: 3 ecopoints / Clothing for the 4Q workers.

Implementation of Workshops and activities at Ecopoints: 100 workshops on environmental care for the community in one year.

Use of EcoCups: 10000 reusable cups to be used in public and private events.


Expected impact


Increase by 50% the number of tons of recyclable waste sold.

  • Rotary Argentina - San Antonio de Areco Branch
  • San Antonio de Areco Electric Cooperative
  • CONIN (Corporation for Child Nutrition)
  • UNSAdA (National University San Antonio de Areco)
  • Viandas Saludables (Healthy Meals)
  • Arecologia
  • Arecos NGO
  • INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria - National Institute of Agricultural Technology)
  • Pampedia School
  • Sandra Amarillo, President of Cooperativa de Trabajo 27 de Octubre - cooperativa27deoctubreltda@gmail.com
  • Celina Pérez Adamo, Secretary of Development and Production of the Municipality of San Antonio de Areco - cperezadamo@areco.gob.

Investment

(*): In kind/pro bonus

(**): Financing

Goods and inputs
Funds
Needed
Covered
Solicited

10 Banner (*) (**)

u$s 1000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 1000.00

400 Carteles (*) (**)

u$s 2000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 2000.00

10 Juegos didácticos (*) (**)

u$s 3000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 3000.00

500 Premios para Ecopunto (*) (**)

u$s 7000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 7000.00

10.000 Ecovasos (*) (**)

u$s 7000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 7000.00

Services
Funds
Needed
Covered
Solicited

Diseño gráfico e impresión (banner, carteles, ploteo ecovasos) (*) (**)

u$s 5000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 5000.00

Productora de video (*) (**)

u$s 8000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 8000.00

Pautas Publicitarias (*) (**)

u$s 4000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 4000.00

Human resources
Funds
Needed
Covered
Solicited

4 Promotores Ambientales (*) (**)

u$s 3000.00

u$s 3000.00

u$s 0.00

1 Productora de video (*) (**)

u$s 7000.00

u$s 0.00

u$s 7000.00

4 Profesores para el dictado de talleres (*) (**)

u$s 3000.00

u$s 1500.00

u$s 1500.00

TOTAL AMOUNTS:

u$s 50000.00

u$s 4500.00

u$s 45500.00

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