waste management 28

Waste Management 28 (2008) S27–S32

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / w a s m a n

Integral urban solid waste management program in a Mexican university

R.M. Espinosa a,*, S. Turpin a, G. Polanco a, A. De laTorre a, I. Delfín b, I. Raygoza a

a Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Azcapotzalco, Avenida San Pablo 180, C.P. 02200, Mexico City, Mexicob Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, FES Iztacala, Mexico

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tArticle history:

Accepted 28 March 2008

Available online 30 June 2008

The Azcapotzalco campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM-A) has implemented an Integral Urban Solid Waste Management Program, “Segregation for a Better UAM Environment” (Separa cción por un mejor UAMbiente). This program is directed to create awareness and involve the academic community of the UAM-A concerning the problem of solid wastes, at the same time fulfilling the local environmental legislation. The program consists in separating solid wastes into two classes: (1) recoverable wastes (glass and PET bottles, aluminum cans, Tetrapak packages) and (2) other wastes (non-recoverable). During the past three years, thanks to this program, the amount of solid wastes delivered monthly to municipal collecting services has been considerably reduced. In this period, UAM-A has sent to recycling: 2.2 tons of glass bottles; 2.3 tons of PET bottles; 1.2 tons of Tetrapak packages and 27.5 kg of aluminum cans.

© 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The Mexican “Prevention and Integral Waste Management Gen- eral Law” (Federal District Official Gazette, 2003), and the local “Solid Waste Law” (Federal District Official Gazette, 2004) estab- lish the obligation “to formulate and execute management plans oriented to prevent the generation of waste, increase their value and develop an environmentally sound management of them”.

This goal is directed towards “large waste generators”, i.e., those with a production of over 10 tons/yr. Most educational institutions belong to this category; therefore, they must develop the corresponding management plans, which must inclu-de an acquisition policy directed towards sustainable consu-mption, based on “green purchase” with the subsequent reduction of waste and the consumption of recycled and/or recyclable products. Sustainable consumption based on “green purchase” targeted at the input of the materials is just one of the control points in the management system, pursuing their transformation and finally the reduction of waste generation.

It is expected that waste management plans of educational institutions involve the students as part of the educational process. In addition, the internal policy of the Azcapotzalco campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM-A) has a commitment to look after the care of the environment and, besides, to promote values for the rational and appropriate usage of natu-ral resources.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 55 5318 9062; fax: +52 55 5394 7378.Email address: [email protected] (R. Espinosa).

In this context, in early 2003, before the publication of the federal law on solid waste management (ONJ, 2003), the UAM-A designed a program for the “Integral Management of Solid Waste” generated in the campus, with the slogan “Segregation for a Bet- ter UAM Environment” (Separacción, por un mejor UAMbiente). This program is the type of management plan that Mexican law requires (Espinosa et al., 2006).

This paper describes the program developed by the UAM-A for the management of urban solid waste generated in its campus, as well as the results obtained to present.

2. Program of integral management

The program of integral management orchestrated by the UAM- A has the following stages:

I Diagnosis.I Program objectives.I First operative phase.I Second operative phase.I Third operative phase.

2.1. Diagnosis

The UAM-A has 3000 workers, including academic and administrative employees, and serves about 12,000 students. The total area

of the campus is 190,513 m2, of which 72,346 m2 are green areas.Before the implementation of the program, solid wastes

generated by the community in the campus (classrooms, labs,

0956-053X/$ - see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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workshops, offices) were collected in the same containers, regard- less of their status (urban/dangerous/special handling).

These residues were picked up by sanitation workers (180 workers in two shifts), who carried them to a temporary storage area called “main container”. Gardening trash was collected by the gardeners (30 workers) and piled in two open spaces set out for that purpose.

2.1.1. Solid waste generation and compositionData collected from studies conducted over five years by under-

graduate students of Environmental Engineering, shows that the University community generates a weekly average (on a five working-day basis) of 7.74 tons of solid urban and special handling wastes, which include 1.72 tons of gardening wastes (Gálvez Coeto and de la Torre Vega, 2003), equivalent to a generation of0.110 kg/day/person within the campus. The data does not include food wastes from the cafeteria, since these residues are handled specially, as mentioned later.

The volumetric weight of the generated solid wastes was87.5 kg/m3 on average, so 7.74 tons represent an approximated volume of 88.45 m3 (Gálvez Coeto and De la Torre Vega, 2003).

The wastes generated at the UAM-A are classified as “urban solid wastes” (USW), although their composition is different from Mexico City’s USW, as shown in Fig. 1.

The main difference is the relative content of the “organic” class, that represents 46% of the total residues in Mexico City (Federal District Official Gazette, 2004), whereas it only com- prises 24% on the campus. In the UAM-A, the main fraction of solid wastes is “inorganic”, a category that includes glass and plastic bottles, metal cans, paper and cardboard, snack wrappers, etc. (Espinosa, 1997–2002).

2.1.2. Waste sourcesPractically all of the organic solid wastes of the UAM-A are

generated by gardening and at the cafeteria area, and they are man- aged separately. Cafeteria residues are collected daily by a service specifically contracted for that purpose. In open areas, classrooms, laboratories, hallways and other facilities, the qu-antity of organic material generated is so small (less than 5% of total weight) that it is practically not significant.

The inorganic wastes are generated in the whole campus: open spaces, accesses and hallways, classrooms, academic and administrative areas, research and teaching labs, cafeteria, etc.

2.1.3. Designing the programThe segregation of the recoverable wastes is convenient since

a market for its commercialization exists. The professor responsible for the program contacted some companies interested in recover- ing and recycling these materials. This also allowed an understand- ing of the payment and transportation conditions.

As a consequence, it was determined to segregate only PET from soft drink bottles, milk and juice cartons (Tetrapak packag- ing), juice and soda glass bottles and aluminum cans. The applied criteria were:

I They are recyclable.I They are generated in large volumes.I It is easy to identify which container they should be placed in.I They are not “dirty” before disposal.

They have a commercial value and there is a potential market for recycling.

The other potentially recyclable plastic materials have a reduced marketing value and they are not segregated.

Napkins, wrappers and paper bags are “dirty” when they are disposed of, so it is not practical to expect them to be recycled. In contrast, most academic and administrative offices generate a large amount of “clean” paper, which is recoverable and has a good market potential.

Because the amount of organic waste generated at the campus is very low, it was not necessary to place special bins to collect the material.

Previous considerations were the starting point for planning and designing the Program for Integral Management to be implemented at the UAM-A. It was decided to separate the residues in two fractions:

I Fraction 1: recoverable wastes (Tetrapak packages, glass bottles, PET containers and aluminum cans).

I Fraction 2: every other residue (non-recoverable).

Although this classification does not match exactly with the designations of “organic” and “inorganic” wastes in the law, the proposed segregation constitutes a convenient management system for the UAM-A, and it even surpasses the law. The selective collection of recoverable material allows their transformation or recycling in an easier way, while the rest (non-recoverable waste) is sent to disposal sites or reserved for composting.

50

45 UAM-A

40 Mexico City

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Organic waste Gardening

wastesPaper andcardboard

Glass Plastic Metal Sanitary PETcontainers

Solid wastes

Others

*The “organic waste” category in UAM-A does not include cafeteria residues

The “plastic” category in Mexico City includes PETE

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Fig. 1. Solid wastes composition on the campus and in Mexico City.

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3. Program objectives

The institutional objectives of the “Separacción” Program are:

I To raise awareness in the community of the UAM-A, on the solid waste problem.

I To get the community of the campus involved in the solid wasteseparation.

I To comply with the local environmental legislation regarding solid waste management.

The program was divided into three stages, according to two factors. The first, waste separation is a habit that the community acquires gradually since it involves a change of mindset, which is why it is important to pursue it step by step. The second, funding, was insufficient to finance all of the infrastructure needed in one phase.

3.1. First operative phase

In this phase, started in October 2003, the separation of solid wastes was established in the open spaces and in the accesses and hallways of the ground floor of every building on the campus. To accomplish an efficient separation, the results of the diagnosis regarding volume and type of wastes generated were considered and used for planning the required infrastructure;

I Number and location of the containers needed for separation of“recoverable” and “non-recoverable” solid residues.

I Number and location of containers needed for toilets and cafeteria.

I Shape, size and color of each container type that permits itseasy identification.

I Materials and equipment: plastic bags, scales, baler/compactor machine, carts for handling large volumes of wastes.

A search for the types and colors of the containers was made. The containers should not affect the image of the areas where they would be placed and should be easy to handle. The University campus had already used white and red colors for the bins, which are the distinctive colors of the UAM-A (Espinosa et al., 2004), so it was thought it would be convenient to keep those colors. The new bins, resistant to environmental conditions in open spaces, were acquired from the same vendor:

1. White bins for recoverable solid wastes.2. Red bins for everything else or non-recoverable solid wastes.

White bags were placed as interior liners in white bins. Black bags were used to line the interior space of red bins because, according to the Mexican regulation, red bags are used for biolog- ical residues. Yellow plastic bags (for sanitary waste) were placed in the restrooms.

The most convenient places for both types of containers were selected after watching the community’s behavior. The containers were fixed to the ground in red/white pairs, and labeled with stickers that showed representations of the fraction that should be deposited in each one. In the first phase, a total of 146 waste bins were placed in outdoor areas (Espinosa et al., 2004).

The “Separacción” Program indicated that once the separated solid wastes have been collected, they are deposited and stored in specific zones of the main container for temporary storage u-ntil they are sent to recycling or to the landfill site. In order to accomplish this, the main container was redesigned and divided into com- partments that were painted in different colors according to the

type of waste to be stored in them. Besides, two small sections of the main container were separated for only yard trimmings.

An information dissemination campaign of the program was designed, which included stickers for the containers, leaflets, post- ers and T-shirts. Finally, some training workshops for the handling of the wastes were given to the gardeners and the sanitation and cafeteria workers.

3.2. Second operative phase

The second phase started in July 2004 and is by now almost complete. As a part of this, the separation of solid wastes was established in the hallways of the higher floors of every building where72 pairs of white and red bins were placed.

Also, the administration started the planning and design of strategies for recovery of “clean” paper, coming from academic and administrative areas of the campus. The following actions were taken (Espinosa and Polanco, 2006):

I Diagnosis and inventory of solid waste generated in academic and administrative offices.

I Design and/or search of proper containers for the recovery ofclean paper. These containers should be utilitarian, according to the image of the offices, and placed at reasonable distance from the office personnel.

I Selection of the number and location of those containers.I Design of the proper collection system.I Design of the information dissemination campaign.I Development of training workshops for the janitorial workers.I Informative meetings for academic and office personnel work-

ing in these areas.

The separation of “clean” paper was planned to start as a pilot run, which included 11 offices, both in academic and administrative areas, aiming to incorporate progressively all of the other offices of the campus.

It is worth mentioning that paper and cardboard were separated by the users during the first phase of the program. Therefore, arrangements for selling these materials were initiated early during the second phase.

The second phase involved activities for the evaluation of the first phase, including surveys to students, teachers and University authorities. The survey results indicated the need to redesign the visual information of the waste bins, as well as to implement a rein- forcement campaign through different media.

In this regard, several alternatives were considered, including leaflets with realistic information, banners, web pages, screensav- ers in student computer labs, advertisements at the campus audito- rium, tray covers/placemats in the cafeteria, and some others. The new graphic image of the program emphasizes the improved icons designed as identifiers for the labels of the bins.

Another important result of the evaluation of the first phase, supported mainly by the inventory of the recoverable wastes generated in the campus, allowed improvement in the collection system and the separation procedures.

3.3. Third operative phase

In this stage, started in November 2005, the “Separacción” Pro- gram was implemented for residues that require special handling and were not considered in the first and second phases, like those generated in studios, research and teaching labs, photocopying and maintenance areas.

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An important part of the third phase was to pay special attention to the treatment or final destination of different types of

Ink and toner cartridges from printers and copying machines, for example, require special attention. Used cartridges have the

Waste Recovery (units) Recovery (kg) Recycling company

PET bottles 153,247 2282.5 ECOCE

advantage that several of their components can be recovered and Aluminum cans 1719 27.5 Centro de acopio

reused or recycled (Toners, 2000). Such possibility represented Glass bottles and containers 6625 2151.9 Vidriera Monterrey

(Vitro)Tetrapak containers 32,324 1175.7 Junior League

some negotiations with a “permanent clients” agreement, through Paper – 931.6 Ecofibras Ponderosawhich we could send our used ink and toner cartridges for recycling Cardboard – 2487 Ecofibras Ponderosa

at “Hewlett-Packard” and “Industrias Kores”. Similar agreements Ink cartridges 153 – Hewlett-Packard y

with other companies in the same business are being pursued. Kores

Toner cartridges 240 – Hewlett-Packard

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special wastes, which required hiring, when needed, professional services.

Table 2

Wastes sent to recycling during 2005 and 2006

another opportunity for action within the program, which led to

Also, it is planned to properly treat organic and pruning wastes with equipment designed by students, which would be implemented at a composting plant within the campus. Some tests have been made using experimental composting piles and the results are currently being reviewed and analyzed.

Table 3

Number of private garbage collection services hired and cost savings

3.4. ResponsibilityYear Number of services Wastes volume (m3) Cost (USD) Savings

2003 182 2184 $23,470.79 –2004 122 1410 $15,477.95 $7,992.83

The “Separacción” Program is an institutional program, under 2005 260 2274 $19,034.59 $4,436.20

the responsibility of the Academic Secretary (vice-rector) of the 2006 88 24 $9,550.23 $13,920.56

UAM-A campus and was designed by two Environmental Engineer- Total 652 5892 $67,533.56 $26,349.59

ing professors. During the first phase, the same two professorscoordinated the activities and were supported by Design profes-sors, volunteering alumni and administrative authorities and workers. Since the beginning of the second phase, the two professors also rely on three supervisors.

4. Program strengths and challenges

The positive and negative results of the program can be classified into four categories: technical and financial, compliance with the local environmental legislation, participation of the community and capacity building.

4.1. Technical and financial results

Table 1 details the amount, in weight, of recoverable wastes segregated in 2005 and 2006. Table 2 mainly shows the recycling companies for each type of waste and the quantities sent to them. As shown in the tables, these quantities have greatly increased from one year to the next. For example, the collected glass quantities have multiplied by nearly 15 and Tetrapak quantities doubled.

Those amounts (together with the yard trimmings, represent-

ing ca. 2120 m3 of solid wastes) are not delivered to the collectors. This is reflected in a drastic reduction in the need for private collection services to take away those wastes that were not collected by the public service.

Table 3 shows the number of private garbage collection services hired in the last three years and the cost savings, compared with the number of services hired in 2003 when the program was not yet running. The cost savings in 2006 is more or less equ-ivalent to25% of the budget set aside for the “Separacción” Program.

Nevertheless, it is still necessary to look for markets for the HDPE containers since they are generated in large quantities, and also to place more attention on the wastes of the laboratories (building a storehouse according to the regulations).

Table 1Wastes recovery in 2005 and 2006

Year Generation (kg)

In general, the program’s approach certainly has had a “learningby doing” aspect because, every day, it is necessary to make little adjustments and there is little relevant literature for the specific case of universities in developing countries. The challenge is therefore not to lose sight of the objectives and to use common sense.

4.2. Compliance with the local environmental legislation

Nowadays, in compliance with the local legislation, UAM-A is delivering its solid wastes to the City public garbage collection separated into only two fractions:

I Organic wastes: pruning wastes, grass clippings, etc.I Inorganic wastes: miscellaneous materials, classified as “every-

thing else”, meaning “wastes which lack of commercial value and are not recoverable (those collected in red waste bins)”.

The volume and weight of the solid wastes delivered to the public service has been reduced since the recoverable wastes (collected in the white bins) are sent to recycling and the yard wastes area sent to composting. These wastes are not sent to waste land- fills.

This way, the solid wastes generated in the campus are man- aged according to the law, which means with an integral vision defined by the principles of prevention, minimization and environmental protection.

To reinforce the minimization aspect, the UAM-A needs to adopt better shopping practices, for example, “green shopping”: recycled paper, paper cups instead of expanded polystyrene and others. Life cycle thinking is a very effective tool for the development of prevention practices and must be applied, when possible, in the acquisition procedures of the university.

4.3. Participation of the community

The program also worked in order to comply with the institutional commitment to promote values that contribute to the care and protection of the environment and to develop a sense of eco-

PET Aluminum Glass Tetrapak Paper Cardboard Total this context, the “Separacción” Program has made efforts directed

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2005 913.4 8.3 133.9 388.7 0.0 0.0 1444.3 to give information and to create awareness about the importance2006 1369.1 19.2 2018.0 787.0 931.6 2487.0 7611.9 and the beneficial environmental impact achievements of the

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wastes management and has actively participated in several university events.

Another important result is the noticeable change in the atti- tude of the community members towards the program. At first, we noticed some indifference and low participation, but with time, collaboration and participation in waste separation has increased. Today, most of the community understands the program as well as the right way to dispose the different fractions. Gaining widespread participation has been a challenge, but good results have been observed as the periodic inspection of containers shows a better separation, since there is less mixing up of recoverable and non-recoverable residues (Espinosa and Polanco, 2006).

4.4. Capacity building

The program provides the UAM-A community the opportunity to learn about the importance of waste management, the dif- ferences between plastics or between “organic” and “inorganic” wastes, environmental risks, ways of reducing wastes, and the new Waste Laws. The gardeners, sanitation and cafeteria workers have learned the most since they have direct involvement in the program.

However, at this point, it is not known if the community applies this knowledge in their own homes or if their behavior has an effect on those who surround them. It would be quite interesting to develop a survey concerning this, since the program aims not only to increase awareness within the campus, but also outside it.

4.5. Comparison with other universities

In Mexico waste management programs exist in some public u-niversities, for example, the University of Mexicali (Baja Califor- nia) and the University of Yucatán, which have launched a waste management program similar to the UAM-A Integral Management of Solid Waste. They are ambitious but there are limited data on the results (Turpin et al., 2004). Both of those u-niversities share the same problems the UAM-A has had to deal with: keeping materials free from contamination, sticking clear and visible icons onto the bins, and difficulties with gaining widespread participation through information, feedback and reminders given to academic and administrative employees and students.

Several private universities also have similar programs, whose results are generally better then those in the UAM-A. This can be explained by the stronger discipline demanded of their communi- ties and a larger dedicated budget (Turpin, 2004).

There are reports of some universities in the United States with solid waste programs: Michigan University, 1989 (Michi- gan, 2007); University of Pennsylvania, 1990 (Pennsylvania,2007); University of Colorado, 1980s (Pennsylvania, 2007); and University of Columbia, 1997 (Columbia, 2007). Initially, these programs focused mainly on recycling various types of paper (white office paper, mixed office paper, corrugated cardboard, newspapers, phonebooks, textbooks, magazines). Later they started recycling food and beverage containers: steel and aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic jugs and bottles (PET and HDPE), milk cartons, juice boxes). Appalachian State Uni- versity has approached the problem of solid wastes by aiming to reduce the amount of material consumed, eliminating sin- gle use items, encouraging reuse of materials and eliminating u-nnecessary wastes.

The “Separacción” Program began years after the programs of developed countries and therefore the achieved results are lesser. Nevertheless, on a national level, this program is one of the most

advanced in integral management of solid waste in higher educational institutions. The participation of the university’s community


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has been gained and, since the first stage, the objectives have been reached.

5. Conclusions

Environmental issues have been a world-wide priority in the last years and Azcapotzalco campus of the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, in Mexico, has always been committed to the proper use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

This commitment has been leading to specific activities since2003, fundamentally through the program for the “Integral Man- agement of Solid Waste” generated at the campus, with the slogan “Segregation for a Better UAM Environment” (Separacción, por un mejor UAMbiente). This program promotes concrete actions of separating waste and changes in individual values and in the behavior of the members of the community of the UAM-A.

Through the presentation of the “Separacción” Program in several cultural events in the campus, and through the various awareness campaigns, the community has been informed and sensitized about the importance and the magnitude of the problem of solid waste disposal in Mexico. The knowledge regarding the integral waste management in the UAM-A campus and the volume of recoverable waste that has been sent to recycling have fueled the inter- est of the community (students, professors, authorities) and have contributed to their involvement in the culture of separation of solid wastes.

From a legal point of view, UAM-A complies with local legislation: solid wastes are separated before they are delivered to the garbage collector trucks and, in addition, the amounts sent to final disposal have been reduced.

The third operative phase of the program is still in process of implementation. Once this phase is completely established and the results are evaluated, the maintenance of a permanent campaign will be part of the program. This involves the pertinent revision of the program in order to accomplish an ever increas- ing community participation, not only in regard to the problems of solid wastes, but in general, in relation to environmental protection.

Last year, the professors responsible for the program started to disseminate information about the program to the au-thorities of the other campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. These authorities are now considering implementing the “Separa cción” Program on their own campus.

Finally, it has to be emphasized that in order to guarantee the success of a solid waste management program in an institution of higher education, the involvement of the community and its inter- disciplinary work are very important. In addition it is imperative to have special support from the authorities of the institution.

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