Healthy City Group (HCG)

Context

In Peru, waste has grown faster than the government’s capacity to manage it adequately. Waste is mainly disposed through open dumps, causing health and environmental problems, primarily through the pollution of water sources. Most infectious medical waste, hazardous industrial waste and electronic waste is often mixed with municipal waste. Waste picking is a main source of income for thousands of poor families, although picking in dump sites poses safety risks, provides little income, generates discrimination, and forces hundreds of school-age children to contribute to household income.

Solution

HCG makes waste management safe, legal and effective, while maintaining livelihoods for thousands of waste picking families, by:

• Training of waste scavengers in adequate handling of waste, thus making their work safer.
• Support of waste scavengers in the creation of community-based microenterprises for waste collection, recycling and disposal. This makes their work legal and helps avoiding middle men.
• Consulting of municipalities how to set up integrated waste management systems.

Impact depth