Waste Management
RAAS Waste and Recycling Project
In partnership with local groups, including a group of nearly fifty women living and working at the Nineteenth of July dumpsite in Bluefields Nicaragua; scrap metal collectors; a composting cooperative; local and regional governments; Bluefields Indian Caribbean University (BICU); the United Nations Development Program, Nicaragua (UNDP); and the locally based blueEnergy, CoLab is developing technology and business models for a comprehensive, sustainable waste management and recycling system in four municipalities in Nicaragua’s Region Autonoma del Atlantic Sur (RAAS). Designed to dramatically improve the living conditions and quality of life of the poorest region of the country (comprised of six ethnic groups), the participatory and integrated plan for solid waste management includes opportunities for enterprise development in recycling, composting, and waste to energy. CoLab’s Libby McDonald has led this project, which included a fall 2010 DUSP study group that focused on waste and recycling in the developing world (students visited the municipalities in January 2011, creating comprehensive field notes on the current state of waste management in the region). McDonald will continue this work in her fall 2011 D-Lab Waste class that will travel to Bluefields, Nicaragua in January 2012 to create technology and business plans in partnership with community organizations.
Read more: http://colabradio.mit.edu/category/at-colab/waste-management-strategies-in-coastal-nicaragua/
Links:
- Biocycle Magazine, Creating Waste Sector Businesses in Nicaragua
- Composting in Bluefields: An assessment of current practices, market, and sustainability potential in Bluefields, Nicaragua
- D-Lab Waste Student Paper on Biodigester Global Case Studies, December 2011
Videos
- Meet the Wastepickers
- Meet the Composters
- La Chureca
- Interview with a Cambridge, MA Recyclers
- Window into Organizing Process for Wastepickers at Nicaraguan Dumpsite
- The Life of One Wastepicker in Bluefields, Nicaragua
Project Affiliates:
Edgar Blanco (Engineering)
Amy Smith (Engineering)
Student Affiliates (2011-2012):
Luyao Li, Drew Pierson, Claire Markgraf, Anna Gross, Tatiana Berger, Maria Cassidy, Nancy Kim, Ivette Luna, Alex Marks, Terence Teo, and Nathalia Duque Ciceri
Student Affiliates (2010-2011):
Mike Tuori, Kristen Watkins, Connie Chen Lu, Evelin Enriquez, Kristin Kagetsu, Sarah Lince, and Paula Winicki, Kristen Kagetsu, Chris Olmstead, Terence Teo, Natalia Duque Ciceri
Contact:
Libby McDonald
libmac@mit.edu