78% of the packaging waste generated in Dominican Republic is not used

AIRD presents the study “Urban Solid Waste: Challenges and Opportunities.”

The largest amount of container and packaging waste used is glass, of which 80.2% is used. Still, only 7.7% is used from PET, 6% High-Density Polyethylene, 2.8% Low-Density Polyethylene, metals (aluminum cans) 0.1%, while paper and cardboard 2.3% and tetrapak 0%.

This information is contained in the study Solid Urban Waste: Challenges and opportunities carried out by the firm Serviguide and presented by the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic in a webinar held this Thursday in which leaders of the packaging industry, as well as experts, participated on the issue of solid waste.

The presentation was given by Deborah Navarro, general director of Serviguide, and was followed by a panel in which Navarro herself participated. Also participating were Felipe Beltrán, president of Ecorservices; María Alicia Urbaneja, executive director of Ecored, and Mariely Ponciano, coordinator of the AIRD Circular Economy Project. The panel was moderated by Circe Almánzar, AIRD executive vice president.

The research reveals that 903 million tons of waste are generated annually, of which 22.2% is managed by managers or recyclers, which means that there are more than 700 thousand tons that are not managed. The installed waste processing capacity by the management companies or recyclers is 263 thousand tons (they are not working full capacity). The margin of opportunity, therefore, is large, exceeding 70%. In the particular case of PET, the opportunities to manage and recycle exceed 90%.

Marranzini: an opportunity

Celso Juan Marranzini, president of AIRD, indicated that waste has two essential characteristics to take into account: it impacts the environment and has an economical cost in itself, which must be considered in its management and handling and that turns into opportunities for industry and society.

He affirmed that the study presented “contributes important guidelines to turn what became a problem into a great economic and environmental opportunity and, therefore, into a significant contribution to sustainable production and society.”

He affirmed that the research table allows establishing the opportunities that lie ahead, both the various sectors of the economy and the state institutions, especially those responsible for municipal management, the city councils.

“Also, it shows the importance of having the articulation of an entire chain that goes from the producer to the consumer and from the consumer to a new production, which could be a truly virtuous circle,” he emphasized.

AIRD is developing a circular economy project with the specific objective of reducing and making the most of the amount of post-industrial and post-consumer waste generated in the Dominican Republic. Within this project’s framework, NUVI has been created, a non-profit association whose mission and purpose are to lead the objectives of the circular economy and support integrated waste management systems for their recovery in the Dominican Republic.

The first integrated management system created by NUVI is that of PET plastic bottles, which will be operated by the simplified public limited company Collective, which will guarantee the storage, collection, transportation, and recovery of the plastic bottles.

“Let us aspire to a society in which the production and care of the environment are organized in a rational, sustainable way, with the participation of all, with the responsibility of all, confident that a prosperous, environmentally sustainable, and socially capable country is possible. Well-being for all their children,” concluded Marranzini.