Conozca los cambios que se vienen para el reciclaje en Bogotá

Ante la gran problemática de bajo aprovechamiento de residuos que sufre la ciudad de Bogotá, en este capítulo del Eco Podcast de RCN estaremos hablando de una nueva estrategia que busca fortalecer la recolección de residuos sólidos, que realizan las organizaciones de recicladores de oficio formalizadas ante el Estado, como prestadores del servicio público de aseo. Una iniciativa que busca mejorar la relación entre las recicladoras y el ciudadano de a pie como principal generador de desechos factibles de reciclar. 

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Ego podcast, because the environment isa subject of all these. Hello,
how I' m doing with awarm greeting. He speaks to Pepe Morón
and, together with Erlenci Gutiérrez,we welcome you to this new chapter of

(00:29):
the DRCM eco podcast. Today weare talking about a topic that we have
already mentioned in other chapters of thiseco podcast, the timely recycling for the
city of Bogotá. You will rememberthat we were even accompanying several waste pickers
to carry out this activity that hassome drawbacks, which has been improving over

(00:51):
the years, which has been knowna little more and doing pedagogy, which
is very important for this activity toactually work, but which is still a
little more. We will be speakingin our broadcast today, because there are
some new developments in the capital ofthe country. The topic we' re
talking about in this broadcast today,so, you know, make a coffee

(01:11):
look, a little corner, comfortableand prepare for this journey around the environmental
world. Welcome. This is thetheme of the day, taking into account

(01:32):
some figures from the Solid Waste Observatoryof the special administrative unit of public services
of the city. The problem ofwaste management is very serious. As detailed,
in the year two thousand twenty-one of eight thousand tons of waste
generated daily by the city, onlyone thousand four hundred and sixty- nine

(01:56):
tons are taken advantage of, avery worrying fact for a city like ours
and for a planet that needs somuch recycling, recycling that is perhaps the
easiest way we have from our homesto contribute to environmental protection and to reduce
the levels that accelerate the arrival ofclimate change and global warming. We have

(02:17):
two guests to discuss this. Ontoday' s broadcast. We have Mr
Francesco Mora with us. He isa systems engineer, experienced in software design
and development in the context of highereducation. He is currently a research professor
at the Pilot University of Colombia andis accompanied by Ernesto Valdés, who is

(02:39):
a professional in business administration and hasa master' s degree in education,
with extensive experience and integration at thelevel of non- profit organizations. He
also has experience in evaluation and curriculumdesigns of higher education programmes for social projects.

(02:59):
Welcome teachers, to this chapter,to this episode of the RCN eco
podcast and with whom you started verygood morning, how are you just being
here with you. Well, Professor, tell us a little bit. With
regard to this initiative, we areinitially clear about what is being done to
transform the recycling scheme in the cityof Bogotá from this two thousand twenty-

(03:20):
four. How we can start bytalking about this topic. Yes, this
is a project that originated specifically withthat between the university for research activities from
the faculty of social and business sciencesand the Eco Strategic Alliances Association of Waste
Pickers, which is a second levelsolidarity economics association that brings together other associations

(03:44):
of waste pickers' base of trade. Then, from the point of view
that these organizations, through the normativenature that brought out the new normivity that
the State took out in the twothousand sixteen the Ministry of Housing, were
able to enter into a process offormalization, which means that they must and

(04:10):
are in the process of transforming themselvesinto organizations of recycling, organizations that provide
the public service of exploitation, thatis, of collecting from all of us,
the users that we generate waste thatcan be used or that can be
recycled, collection of those waste asa public service, as the service of

(04:30):
the cleaning of the final disposition.Teachers, I don' t know which
one. You can help me withthe following so that the listener of RCN
Radio' s echo podcast has aclearer context. Initially we gave some figures
related to recycling and disposal of waste. How are we really doing that,
how do we land those figures sothat they are understood in the homes and

(04:51):
so that we can see the situationthat we are living in this capital of
the country today? Yes, let' s say that the most critical problem,
is or one of the most criticalproblems in this activity, is that
we, the users or we donot separate waste that can be reusable in

(05:15):
industry or agriculture from waste that isnot usable and should therefore be buried in
landfill. So the failure to separatethat well and deliver it, for example,
to the waste pickers, especially tothose who are being formalized, because
it leads to many tons of wastestill being taken to the burial, waste

(05:40):
that can be useful, useful and, of course, through channels commercial channels,
could be reused by basic sectors ofthe economy, for example, in
the Bogotá economy, at the levelof the Bogota industry. Some of the
experiences we had in the street accompanyingthe waste pickers, talking punctually about organized

(06:00):
waste pickers with whom we were accompanyingand doing these tours, they told us
some drawbacks, for example, thatthere were street dwellers who also came to
the garbage messed it up, tookit out and let' s say that
in a certain way, this damagedthe image of them as waste pickers,

(06:21):
because then they thought that they werethe ones who made this huge mess and
they didn' t let him saythe separate material or anything like that.
They told us. For us,working with the Community, with the neighborhood,
is key, and this made themvery difficult for us. There is
a possibility, through this project thatyou present, to facilitate all that work

(06:43):
and really, as you said,that this will function as a public service.
More yes, let' s saythat what we call the project with
equity and another ally in the projectis a project that gained support in the
twenty- one was presented a callfor my sciences and the whole topic of

(07:05):
science and technology and environment and alreadywith the support of the general system of
royalties, this project we call transformationof the recycling scheme in Bogotá. We
seek that precisely contribute to giving sometools, especially from TIXS technology, to

(07:26):
associations and their affiliated waste pickers,so that they can precisely contact and enter
into a relationship with us users ina narrower way, so that we users
end up delivering the reusable material tothem, to those waste pickers that are

(07:46):
formalizing and not going to any streetrecycler, which, because it is natural,
as the activity is still too informal, because it also lives from collecting
and marketing that material. So,somehow we are helping or trying to help
with the project so that operationally thesepartnerships start as a pilot with the deco

(08:13):
alliance, are more effective in theirwork and effectively provide public service. Don
' t just go through the block, pick up the material that serves you,
which you don' t leave there, but do a more complete job
that is already regulated. This atthe household, teacher or business level,
where we say, institutional and commercial, where they, where waste pickers and

(08:39):
their associations have historically been doing theirroutes and recycling activity. Those routes are
the starting point for and are alreadyacting, because this is coming. Since
two thousand sixteen have been trying toregularize that the activity of the waste picker

(09:01):
ex officio or in process of formalizationcan judiciously do its work with the users.
The key here is that their workis not effective. Thus, we,
users, residential, commercial and industrialusers, college institutions, do not
collaborate with the work. We don' t collaborate with him. Separation and

(09:22):
donation, timely delivery of reusable waste. If that' s not done well,
the recicaador can' t work welleither. Lack of pedagogy, lack
of will, lack of what wouldbe, becauseor, lack of good,
that would be a point of view, lack of education of us users,
in that, of awareness about howbad it is to bring to the burial

(09:48):
waste that can be exploited, becausethe sanitary fillings understand have a useful life,
they are not infinite in capacity and, above all, would also understand
that their technical and environmental management becomesmore complex among more waste. So there
is a lack of awareness on thepart of us, the citizens, of
the need to do this work ofseparating so that there is recycling and reuse.

(10:13):
Professor Francesco, I don' tknow your voice the next question.
Yes or yes. Now it's your turn to answer. Professor Mire,
it is important to highlight the figurethat we knew or that we saw
initially, and it is the onedelivered by the Solid Waste Observatory of the
Special Administrative Unit of Public Services ofthe city. There it is said that

(10:35):
in the year two thousand twenty-one only the eighteen point thirty- three
percent was recycled in the city ofBogotá. You have, from the Academy,
some projection of how you can improvethat figure through this initiative or this
project. So if it does,as the prof ernesto said, the project
ter in general seeks to increase thisrate of use of solid waste and does

(10:58):
so through the incorporation of one ofthe technological components. So, right now
the professor ernesto mentioned the importance thatit has of having the waste pickers of
office and the associations establish communication withthe users of service with us. So,
inside the project. We are currentlydeveloping an application that we have called

(11:22):
birectional communication, which will allow theuser of the service to communicate with the
waste picker of office and to initiatethat conversational dynamics so that a better operation
of collection of materials and key isgenerated. The subject of that implementation.
If we look at some details,a little more specific of them and it

(11:43):
is already available from when it canbe achieved, it has some cost such
things. No. We are currentlydeveloping it. We are developing it within
the framework of the project and itis part of the ecosystem, if we
can call it that, of applicationsoffered by the project as such, it
will be available in a few months. Over there, in two three months
it will be available to users ofthe service. Toilet. Another application that

(12:07):
is also being developed specifically by theteam of Prof Marco Antonio Jinete at the
Pilot University of Colombia, is avideo game. A video game that,
through dynamics typical of this type ofapplications, seeks to train users of the
service. And perhaps we have realizedthat it has great potential in young people,

(12:28):
children and young people who, fromchildhood and since they are beginning their
adolescence, begin to know how allthese dynamics or all those recommendations or criteria
one must have to separate the residuesof soleos. So, with this ecosystem
of application, what we are lookingfor is precisely to educate because surely these

(12:52):
low levels of waste take place isbecause of this lack of education. So
the application of birectional communication, thatof video games that are focused on the
users of the service, because theywill contribute quite teachers. How we land
this to the communities, to theneighborhoods of the city of Bogota I give

(13:13):
you an example. In the cityof Pereira we had the opportunity to learn
about a project where people within neighborhoods, residential complexes and others have a recycling
collection point. There they carry therecycling item and this gives it in return
as some sort of virtual points orcoins that change in the same shops in

(13:35):
the neighborhoods with those virtual coins.You go to doña Juana, who has
had the store all her life onthe corner and buys you the soda or
buys you the bread, or buysyou what you want to buy. And
that makes people walk from the common, from the neighborhoods, from residential estates.
If you are not interested in theenvironment, you will suddenly be interested
in this way of being able tobuy products an incentive. How to do

(13:56):
this, because at the corporate level, let' s say INSS have some
privileges from companies that have this issueof environmental kindness, their social responsibility for
the environment and environmental responsibility and allof this. But at the neighborhood level,
how do we get people to pickon this recycling issue, because it

(14:18):
' s urgent that it be thatway. Yes, let' s say
that, because we understand and thathas not taught it more equality and its
associations is that the waste picker,who knows his trade well, knows well
the territory where recycling is to sayso the mediator to achieve that transformation.

(14:41):
Now how it gets to the user. That is what we, with the
project conceived with eco alliance, wantto look at how more effective this relationship
construction is for the user to bewon in this case as a public service,
is to donate the material why,because the waste picker lives from the

(15:03):
entry of the commercialization of that material. And second, when it is judiciously
done through the network of wineries,they call it ecas. The rule calls
it ecas or are the establishments fromwhich the materials are deposited and sold legally
to the industry when made. ThatWell, then, indeed, the waste

(15:24):
picker also receives some payment for publicfee for remuneration from the public fee because
of the service being provided. Then, there we have not or is not
designed the project to create monetary incentives, but rather to create better possibilities of
contact between the judicious trade waste pickerand his association and the users of the

(15:50):
ace public service. That is thepoint where it operates, where the associations
with its waste pickers are present.There are many areas from or where they
are not present. So, then, that too will have to do with
a matter at the level of theauthorities in the toilet, in the recycling
and the associations to see how itis expanding. But the project is concerned

(16:14):
that time to see how it helpsAlliance to improve. We talked about improving
their way of operation with waste pickerson the routes they do today and different
locations in the city. And atopic that is also fundamental, especially in
a city like Bogotá, and askingthem to see if the project, the

(16:38):
work with the police authority, iscontemplated, because they also told us that,
in a certain way, police workmade it difficult for them because they
even had to run before the policearrived, when they were, for example,
in some residential assemblies and took outthe garbage. They had to try
to take the waste before the doormancalled the police and the police came to

(17:00):
interrupt their work, even though theywere under legal schemes, even though they
were organizations fully supported by the district. Even the van where we were doing
the tour was one of the diverswho gave petro back at the time and
who switched to the traditional cars Thenshe was a waste picker with whom we

(17:21):
were, who had full administrative supportand the police wouldn' t let her
do a job. You consider thatpoint also within the project, because not
directly, because, as we say, you get out of what the project
intends to contribute to solving. But, because these kinds of problems I think
are changing to the extent that citizens, communities and other authorities understand better the

(17:45):
important role that the waste picker playsand let him do his job so that,
in fact, it is fulfilled asa public service. Now, of
course, there are problems with theuse of public space. The waste picker,
depending on the vehicle he has,has to do one. What a

(18:08):
building delivers to it, for example, has to make a new separation,
because it cannot be carrying everything,because it is not useful or that it
does not have commercial sable exactly thenif it uses public space, because if
it does so rationally, arealy,cleanly, etcetera, because it is something
that, of course, will haveto be agreed with and let' s

(18:33):
say supported by communities and other authoritiesso that the work is done in a
way that does not harm anyone Andif the environment wins, the waste picker
will win by its work. Fromthat point of view, but it is
something that the project does not continue, it does not contemplate. No yes,
because we' re more focused onseeing how and it' s neo.
The French professor is the one whohas the word on how tools are

(18:56):
developed to help improve the relationship betweenuser and waste picker and association and,
second, to help educate the userin that we separate and deliver properly the
recoverable waste. Professor, through whichthis contact with the Community will be made
as such, I understand that thesubject of waste pickers are talking to some

(19:18):
or have some specific alliances that wewere initially mentioned. But with the Community,
as they are going to work throughthe communal action boards, so they
are doing good. These are sensitizationsthat make equal with their promoters in the
sites, in the bars where thecollection routes are carried out. One important
thing to mention is that we,as we think, where there is that

(19:42):
integration between users of recycling services.We consider it important to train ex officio
waste pickers. So, within thatecosystem of applications that I was mentioning to
you right now, we also havea gamified application that is different from the
video game. The gamificava application aimedat ex officio waste pickers? In what

(20:03):
way is this application being targeted?In that through it, through podcast like
this that you make here in RCN, through educational videos, through storytel and
narratives and so on, we teachthe waste pickers of office to have assertive
communication, a good deal, agood attention with the user. That'
s supremely key. And considering thatthe project by incorporating applications and technologies into

(20:29):
this sector, because we also haveto train them in TIX, then this
same application through different very inclusive strategies, for example, for those waste pickers
who suddenly do not have a classicalliteracy, then they are given audios to
interact with the application and more,they are also taught how to handle tigs

(20:52):
then. But the application is forrecycling. That' s for the waste
picker. That' s why youhave that Community and the community at all
then. What we are doing isthat today, once we integrate all these
tools into the operational dynamics of recyclingjointly or in parallel, this partnership is
doing this training to service users.Of course, it generates these spaces,

(21:15):
these communications of appropriation of these newdynamics of operation of the cycles of office.
They are informed that these tools arecurrently in fact available, and the
University also participates in the total deposits. Yes, of course, the University
and helps articulate those processes and,in fact, pepe. An other application
they have on service users is calledservice evaluation. Then you, as a

(21:40):
service user, will be allowed toevaluate how the service is evolving, which
provides you with the recycling of yourown business. So all that is,
as I said, a feedback ecosystemthat allows associations to improve those schemes,
like when you ask for a carthat is then evaluated by the driver.
It can be that way, itcan be that way, exactly before and

(22:03):
that brings a very valuable idea,ideal and that greatly enriches the association.
A notation there the project. Thatis why it also provides for a minimum
base of cellulars to do this work. Well, that' s something important
the associations so that many waste pickersalready use cell phones, but we want
that, but it would be alimitation in case you believe you had a

(22:26):
suitable cell phone for this, forthe job, to allow you to communicate
with the user, to feedback youractivity and, from that point of view,
to learn to do service on them. I' ve got waste pickers
being part of the formalization. Theyare validating their work skills in recycling,
because they know a lot about materials, what it is usable and how it

(22:52):
is commercially useful as well. Thenthey' re validating it with dinner.
But this particular aspect of attention tothe user, because we have come with
equal regard to how it is carriedout in a way that is better learned
and used in its daily activity ofrecycling. That is the important point there

(23:15):
is something that all the blows,public service users do or is known and
is that between the provider of thetoilet service and the user there is what
they call a contract of uniform conditions. That is, as users we have
duties or are regulated by rules,by law we have obligations and service providers
have other obligations. So that's what we have to get to know

(23:41):
and get to practice, because it' s one of the ways, one
of the strategies to overcome this problemthat we generate waste we separate and we
hope that everything goes to the burialto the filling. Professors, thanking you
for accompanying us in this so soof the RCN Radio eco podcast, for

(24:03):
telling the listeners a little bit aboutwhat comes in view of this topic of
recycling in the city of Bogotá,a city that we repeat, should be
an example at the country level inthis topic of the work that is done
with the waste that comes from ourhomes, from the companies. There he
is then thanking Ernesto Valdés, aprofessional in administration and companies, and who

(24:29):
came with him and whom we alsothank to Professor Francesco Mora, who is
a system engineer, with experience insoftware design and development in higher education contexts.
Thank you very much, Thank you, Thanks to this One has to
remember that during the month of Marchthe Wildlife Day is commemorated. Important also

(24:56):
because these days the authorities are callingthe issue of trafficking in fauna and flora
especially in the face of the weekseason Santa Let us listen to this special
report prepared by Geraldin Russo regarding thiscall made by the environmental authority Bueno Pepe
And there is a much more worryingsituation, and it is about the species

(25:18):
that are in danger of extinction atthis time in Colombia, according to the
last report delivered by the Research Instituteof Biological Resources Alexander humboll En, where
it warns that more than nine hundredspecies of flora and fauna in the country
are in a critical situation that couldbe in danger of extinction due to a

(25:38):
combination of factors such as the changeof soil cover, illegal mining, construction
around urban centers, overexploitation, invasivespecies, climate change and pollution. These
are all factors that have contributed tothe serious danger of extinction of all these

(26:00):
species in our country. But you' ll wonder what those species are.
Among these are sixty- eight speciesof birds that are at risk, with
habitat loss and hunting, and deforestationbeing the main threats in Colombia. And
to this pepe also adds that thereare thirty- three mammal species in the
country that are being seriously threatened bytemperature changes and also deforestation in some areas,

(26:26):
such as the Amazon. Well,and you' ll be wondering what
those species are and let me tellyou that among the most affected at the
moment is the alban- sappy frogand Lehamman' s rare venomous, two
species of amphibians whose existence is threatenedby ecosystem transformation and pollution, two factors

(26:48):
that affect ninety percent of the amphibiansin Colombia. In addition, there are
other areas in the country, suchas Magdalena, turtles, whose extinction takes
place in two stages of development andin all regions of the country. In
addition, they are affected by theestablishment of hydroelectric plants and the change in
the hydrological regime, which puts theviability of this species at risk. In

(27:12):
addition, in its reproduction pepe andlisteners, let us remember that there are
only four thousand hundred copies left inthe country and the approximate that some autonomous
entities and corporations have taken out,which is also seriously affected by other factors
such as illegal mining. And tolearn more about animal trafficking in Colombia,
we will listen to Colonel William CastañoRamos, Director of Carabineros and Environmental Protection

(27:36):
in Colombia. Law twenty- oneeleven of the year two thousand twenty-
one in its article three hundred twenty- eight and three hundred twenty- eight
a, as well as law seventeenhundred seventy- four, protect these beings
by prohibiting illegal trafficking and mistreatment.Possession and commercialization of wildlife is not only
an act of cruelty, but alsoa crime with serious legal consequences. Well

(27:56):
pepe And to conclude, there isanother very important fact and is that there
are other areas of the country thatare also being seriously affected by climate changes
and some threats. Among them isthe peaceful coast of Narian and the Andean
region. In the face of thissituation, not only the Humble Institute,
but also the autonomous corporations call attentionto citizens to contribute to the conservation and

(28:21):
preservation of the wild habitat of allthese species, because let us remember that
each one plays a fundamental role inecosystems to contribute to life and health,
not only of them, but alsoof the human species. And in this
way we conclude our broadcast today withoutfirst thanking, as always, Erlencio Gutiérrez

(28:44):
for accompanying us in the cabin tothe entire integrated system that is under the
direction of Esperanza Rico and Wendy Benavidesin the general production the Ego Podcast,

(29:07):
because the environment is a theme ofall