Outlook of Municipal Solid Waste in Bogota (Colombia)

Abstract

The Municipal Solid Waste is a new target of the municipal government because their negative consequences if the management is inadequate (health diseases, pollution, etc.); In Latin America, the most frequency solution is the final disposal in landfill, but, no-all the Solid Waste is really waste (or unusable material): (i) The Inorganic Fraction that, for the no source separation, lost the use possibility in value chains and (ii) The Organic Fraction, which is produced during food processing in houses, restaurants and enterprises, has a potential uses (traditional as Compost, or new uses as matter for other process). For those, the solid waste management is a challenge in many cities on this “developing countries” as Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia or the Caribbean nations; this paper find to explain how they have handled solid waste in the capital of Colombia (Bogotá), without the landscape of all Latin America reality. The possibilities of use and valorization of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and the importance of the adequate management into the cities will be the new actions on many cities for to obtain economic development and a rational use of this resources.