CMPC’s “Trash-free Neighborhoods” project wins first place in an environmental innovation competition
The initiative, which is underway in various districts of the Maule, Biobío and Araucanía regions, was recognized by the British Chilean Chamber of Commerce in the category of “Best community management project”.
More than 64 tons of waste have been reused since 2019, when the Trash-free Neighborhoods project was launched. Since then it has expanded to six more districts in the Maule, Biobío and Araucanía regions. The initiative won first place in the category of Best Community Management Project at the 2022 ceremony of the 13th Environmental Innovation Recognition of the British Chilean Chamber of Commerce.
This distinction seeks to highlight companies that strive for innovation in the search for sustainable solutions to the challenges facing humanity on matters such as elimiating waste and reducing energy use.
The Trash-free Neighborhoods program promoted by CMPC, through the environmental culture company Kyklos, is an initiative that seeks to raise awareness and promote a recycling culture through collaborative work with municipalities and by training local managers who collect the waste.
CMPC Sustainability Manager Nicolás Gordon highlighted the importance of the initiative for communities. “Trash-free Neighborhoods is a program that creates a great deal of synergy between public-private organizations and especially with the people who are part of the project, those who are actively involved in a number tasks and who see the benefits it provides over time: a cleaner neighborhood, caring for the planet, reusing resources, and more.”
There are multiple benefits that the Trash-free Neighborhoods program has brought to the various communities. Along with helping to reuse waste, it has generated local employment and community recycling centers have been set up. More than 3,000 social organizations, schoolchildren and municipal officials have been sensitized to the importance of reusing waste. Because of these positive results, the CMPC team hopes that new territories will be added in the future, increasing the program’s scope.
Currently, the Trash-free Neighborhoods program has been implemented in the Yerbas Buenas, Los Ángeles, Laja, Nacimiento, Negrete, Mulchén and Collipulli districts. Additionally, Loncoche and San Rosendo will soon be participating in the program.
Five categories were recognized at the awards ceremony: Innovation in Carbon Management, Innovation in Energy Management, Innovation in Water Management, Innovation in Circular Economy and Innovation in Community Management, which had 64 initiatives from different organizations in Chile. The winners were selected by a jury composed of a representative of the British Embassy in Chile, representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Science and Environment and experts in innovation.
