edited by Inge Lardinois (Project manager UWEP 03)

Introduction

This research paper describes the state of the art of the research on `Solid Waste Micro and Small Enterprises and Cooperatives in Latin-America', carried out between January and May 1996. The countries involved were: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru (an inventory study was carried out in Paraguay). The research was coordinated by ACEPESA (Asociación Centro Ejecutor de Proyectos Economicos y de Salud) of Costa Rica, IPES (Instituto de Promoción de la Economia Social (IPES) of Peru and WASTE. This research project was made possible with funding from the Urban Waste Expertise Programme (UWEP) of WASTE itself and from the Urban Management Programme (UMP-LAC and UMP-WB). The present paper is a summary of earlier papers presented at international conferences in Cairo and Istanbul (see Literature). The Spanish edition of a book describing all experiences is available; the English edition will be available in the beginning of 1998.

1 Justification and Objectives

The research had two prime objectives: firstly, to contribute to the improvement of solid waste management services and secondly, to promote adjustments to national, regional, local and sectorial policies to allow for the improvement and setting up of micro enterprises and cooperatives (PYME/COOP) working in this area in Latin America. To meet these objectives, the research study proposed documenting and analysing the experiences of small and micro-enterprises and cooperatives in Latin-America, which have become important mechanisms in presenting alternatives to the grave environmental problems generated by inadequate solid waste management.

Since little is known of projects in Latin-America in English and French speaking countries, it was assumed that the Latin American examples would provide interesting experiences and lessons for Africa and Asia.

2 Scope and Limitations

The different entrepreneurial forms studied are found in every part of the waste cycle: some of them promote recovery at the point of origin, others play an important role in the sweeping and cleaning of public streets, in garbage collection and in the management of small-scale final disposal sites. Recycling enterprises were not included in the study. The number of enterprises from each country and their year of origin are listed in the following table according to their type of activity.

Special attention was paid to financial-economic aspects of the enterprises and we have attempted to elaborate performance indicators for each enterprise. However, in some cases it was difficult to obtain financial information because no accounts were kept, nor was there a register of the waste collected, separated or disposed of. This situation restricted the possibility of drawing detailed comparisons.

Table 1 PYME/COOP investigated by country and activity

COUNTRY	PRINCIPAL ACTIVITY/SERVICE	NO. OF ENTERPRISES
Guatemala	sweeping and cleaning collection and transportation final disposal recovery	2 6 1 5
El Salvador	collection recovery composting	5 4
Costa Rica	collection recovery final disposal beach cleansing	7 8 1 1
Colombia	collection recovery	5 3
Brazil	recovery selection/collection	1 2
Bolivia	sweeping/collection collection + transport	9 9
Peru	sweeping/cleaning collection final disposal recovery and segragation	1 15 1 2

3 Methodology and State of the Art

Methodological guidelines were elaborated and were discussed and explained during a workshop in Costa Rica in February 1996. In May 1996, a second workshop was held in Peru to present the studies and to draw conclusions. Field studies were carried out by local consultants. The results were presented at HABITAT-II in Istanbul (June 1996), at the UMP-conference on small and micro enterprises in waste management in Cairo (October 1996) and at a World Bank seminar (November 1996). Final reports are available from all countries and a book is currently in production.

4 Results of Field Studies

4.1 Types of Initiators

By examining the origin and principal characteristics of their activities, four "types" of initiators were identified: small entrepreneurs, informal recovery workers, Community Based Organizations, and NGOs.

1. Small entrepreneurs
   This type is represented by examples taken from the City of Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica. They are projects initiated by small entrepreneurs, and offer waste collection services directly to the population with municipal approval.

2. Informal recovery workers
   In this type, the entrepreneurial organization was set up on the initiative of the recovery workers (waste pickers and itinerant waste buyers). These projects were established to assure the permanence of their jobs and to improve their working conditions. Cooperatives in Brazil and Colombia are examples of this type of initiative. They often received support from the churches.

3. Community Based Organizations
   These are organizations formed by the community to respond to its own needs. Examples can be found in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. The PYME/COOPs that basically respond to community interests usually have very limited relationships with the municipalities.

4. Non-Governmental Organizations
   This type of initiative comprises small and micro enterprises formed with the support of NGOs that have close links with the communities and which generally work in waste collection in low-income areas. Examples can be found in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.

All of these entrepreneurial forms are characterized by the intensive use of manual labour (a large number of workers in proportion to the capital invested), a factor which has permitted many PYME/COOPs to emerge and profit in the real world of free competition without depending on donations or international loans for financing.

4.2 Employment Generation

The survey researched 89 PYME/COOPs which together account for more than 800 jobs. It must be stated that the PYME/COOPs studied represent only a small number of the total of PYME/COOPs that exist in the countries investigated. Some of the examples studied:

• in Guatemala, five out of more than 300 waste collection enterprises were studied
• in Colombia, four cooperatives were included in the research, while more than 100 cooperatives exist in the country, most of them being organized in the National Association of Recyclers (ANR)
• in Peru, 19 enterprises were studied out of a total of more than 100 enterprises.

From the survey, it was evident that the actual number of jobs created in waste management activities is much higher, totalling around 10.000 jobs (excluding individual waste pickers and recyclers).

Alternative employment opportunities have also been set up, such as the cooperative `Recuperar' in Medellin (Colombia), which has found jobs for its members in other sectors (e.g. the manufacturing industries).

4.2.1 Income Generation

In general, the wages of PYME/COOP workers are higher than the statutory minimum wage (see Table 2). An analysis of wages per activity in the countries investigated, with the exception of recovery and separation in Costa Rica, showed that all of the PYME/COOP workers earn higher than the minimum wage.

Table 2 Average wages received per activity and statutory minimum wages

Concept	Peru	Colombia	Bolivia	Brazil	Costa Rica	El Salvador	Guatemala
Minimum wages	60.00	140.00	46.00	112.00	200.00	130.35	94.00
Collection	124.00	271.00	96.33	n.a.	258.00	144.00	285.90
Recovery+segregation	106.00	243.33	n.a.	275.14	149.00	133.00	169.30
Sweeping	136.00	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	129.00
Final Disposal	129.00	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	650.00

If the salaries are analysed by activity, the garbage collection and transport workers of Guatemala are the most well paid, since they receive 3.03 times the minimum wage. With respect to the recovery and separation workers, in relative terms (average salary/minimum wage) as well as absolute terms, those in Brazil are the best paid because they receive 2.46 times the minimum wage. Sweeping activities were only compared in Guatemala and Peru; PYME/COOP workers receive the highest salaries in Peru.

4.2.2 Gender

The functions carried out by women in waste management are closely related to the way men and women divide their labour both inside and outside the home. However, the research shows that traditional divisions of labour can be changed.

1. Street Sweeping and Cleaning
   In Peru, the micro enterprises studied are made up exclusively of women who live in the marginal urban areas of Lima. Here it is evident that the street sweeping PYME/COOPs prefer to contract women because they consider them to be more efficient at this work than men. This decision is based on the gender stereotype that because women clean the home, they feel comfortable with this type of work, transferring their domestic cleaning experience to the public arena.

2. Primary and Secondary Waste Collection
   The following table shows the participation percentages of men and women in the study sample of solid waste collection enterprises. It is especially interesting to note the differences in women’s participation in this type of activity in the PYME/COOP in the Central American countries with those of women in Peru and Bolivia.

Table 3 The participation of men and women in the waste collection enterprises

Country	Total no. of Workers	No. of women	No. of men	Percent women	Percent men
Elsalvador	25	2	23	8%	92%
Costa Rica	31	2	29	6%	94%
Guatemala	49	1	48	1%	99%
Colombia	55	9	46	16%	84%
Peru	123	72	51	59%	41%
Bolivia	231	76	155	33%	67%

The participation of women in this type of activity in Central America is minimal. In Peru and Bolivia, the participation of women is much higher. One of the reasons for this difference is the influence of the majority of the NGOs, who guided the formation processes of the enterprises, including the selection of poor, unemployed women from the marginal urban areas.

One of the results of the investigation in Peru indicates that women remain in the enterprises longer whereas most of the men consider it to be a temporary job. Many men prefer to leave the PYME/COOP immediately on finding a job or occupation considered more prestigious than garbage collection. Women, however, see this job as their only source of income and therefore perform their work with more responsibility and continuity.

The above-mentioned situation provides a degree of insight into why the enterprises are predominantly owned and managed by women. The majority of the active associates are women and almost 70% are informal or formal leaders (managers). It should be pointed out that some of these women had previously acted as leaders in community organizations, a circumstance which in some cases allowed them to become leaders in the enterprises.

The following table shows the participation of men and women in the solid waste recovery activities of the PYME/COOPs studied.

Table 4 The participation of men and women in the recovery enterprises

Country	Total no. of Workers	No. of women	No. of men	Percent women	Percent men
Elsalvador	27	11	17	39%	61%
Costa Rica	40	7	33	17%	83%
Guatemala	113	102	11	90%	10%
Peru	17	11	6	65%	35%

In the cases of the cooperatives in Colombia and Brazil, it is difficult to determine the percentages of participation due to the permanent fluctuation of the number of workers in the cooperatives. By way of example, in the PROSPERAR cooperative, in Manizales, Colombia, men occupy 69% of the jobs, women 23% and children 8%. These numbers give an idea of the situation.

The participation of female manual labour is greater in recovery activities than it is in garbage collection, probably because the classification work requires visual-motor abilities and prolonged periods of concentration. Both abilities are traditionally associated with women. Another condition which facilitates the incorporation of women in this type of labour is the fact that the installations of the enterprise where they carry out the classification is generally located in a room in their own home. Thus they can attend both to their domestic work and to the work of the micro-enterprise.

4.3 Financial Aspects

4.3.1 Costs of collection and street cleansing

Even when the income levels and the costs of all the PYME/COOP have not been precisely determined, there are relevant factors which indicate that these have a "basic" income which permits them to continue operating and guarantees their future growth to some degree. In general the enterprises make enormous efforts to attain the best possible income. Because of this, all of them continuously seek to reduce their costs and maximize their income.

In some cases, we have been able to calculate performance indicators: costs per ton collected. As shown in Table 5 the average collection costs of the PYME/COOP in Peru and Guatemala are lower than the average for Latin-America.

Table 5 Average collection costs per ton per month in US $

Country	Costs/ton/month (in US $)
Peru	15
Guatemala	11
Latin-America	25

Costs per kilometre street cleaned As can be seen in Table 6 the average cleaning costs of the micro enterprises in Lima are also lower than the average street cleaning costs in Latin-America.

Table 6 Average cleaning costs per ton per month in US $

Country/region	Costs/km/month (in US $)
Peru	4
Latin-America	7 - 9.5

Both indicators provide strong evidence for the cost-effectiveness of the PYME/COOP.

4.3.2 Payment of services

It is important to point out that there is a basic difference in the income obtained by those PYME/COOPs which charge the population directly for their services and those which are paid by the municipalities. With regard to the first type of enterprise, the results in the two countries researched are completely different.

In Guatemala, there is a competitive market for waste collection and transportation services, and the method of direct payment by the residents is very effective. In several cases, this has enabled the growth of the PYME/COOP. However, in Peru, where the municipality has granted the PYME/COOP the right to charge the people directly for this service in some areas, this method has had little success and non-payment or delayed payment is a frequent result. This situation in Peru is basically due to three factors:

(a) There is a non-payment culture or tradition for these services because people consider that these services should be provided by the government free of charge.
(b) The lack of concern of people for the solid waste problem.
(c) In Peru, services are primarily provided to low income areas, while in Guatemala services are generally provided to middle and high income areas.

The customers are not the only bad payers. In some cases where the PYME/COOPs have a contract with the municipality, payment may be delayed by several months. This is particularly the case in Peru.

4.3.3 Hidden Costs

In order to be present in the market and to be able to compete, the PYME/COOPs have had to implement "defence" mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is that of hidden costs. This refers to those costs which, although they should be paid by the PYME/COOP, are not. Consequently, the enterprises do not consider these costs as part of their real costs. This concept was introduced in the investigation with the object of evaluating and understanding the logic of the micro-enterprises and cooperatives and of understanding how they remain in the market and, above all, how the participation of external agents in this type of enterprise contributes to their existence in one way or another. The survey showed that there are common hidden costs in all of the PYME/COOPs. One of the most representative examples is the cost of labour or personnel. The hidden cost of personnel includes the unpaid labour of the family members of the owners of the PYME/COOP, and unpaid legal social benefits for many staff such as medical insurance and old age pensions.

4.3.4 Hidden benefits

The fact that not all the inhabitants are disposed to pay for the service has also prompted many enterprises to interact with the community through educational campaigns. This situation can be seen in several countries (e.g. El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia).

The disrespect of the population for waste collectors has stimulated cooperatives to engage in environmental education. The cooperatives in Brazil and Colombia pay great attention to organising educational campaigns aimed at encouraging awareness of the importance of recycling among the population and stimulating the community to cooperate in recovery activities. Since environmental education campaigns are carried out cost free, they were identified as one of the most important hidden benefits of the work of the PYME/COOP.

4.3.5 Financing of the PYME/COOP

The enterprises that arose `spontaneously', received loans from friends, families and banks. In some cases, particularly those in which NGOs played a crucial role in establishing the PYME/COOP, special credit schemes were established to serve the needs of the enterprise.

We have not identified a single case that makes use of the micro credit programmes of international agencies such as the World Bank or the IDB. In Peru it was discovered that the existing micro credit schemes do not extend loans to waste collection enterprises - firstly because a service providing enterprise is not considered a viable enterprise and secondly, because enterprises must operate for at least one year before they are eligible for credit. In general, micro credit programmes have insufficient knowledge of the operational logistics of waste management enterprises.

4.4 Technology

4.4.1 Types and Ownership

The enterprises investigated use completely different technologies. These vary from carts made from waste to trucks (see Appendix 1). In the majority of the cases investigated the technology used is owned by the PYME/COOPs themselves. They have acquired the equipment they use in their work in different ways: by making it, through credits, or through donations.

4.4.2 Technological adaptations

Distinct examples of technological adaptations exist. For example, in Costa Rica, one enterprise (garbage collection) uses a truck with a partition and chain for emptying the solid waste. ECOASEO (Colombia) has a three-ton garbage truck, in which the compacting system has been removed in order to facilitate the recovery of recyclable materials. This vehicle has been designed, at the suggestion of the recycling workers, by an engineer (a Social Foundation functionary) and assembled by a national firm using local technology.

In the majority of garbage collection micro-enterprises investigated in Peru, the equipment used was made with certain ergonomic considerations in mind. This has been the case in the design of the garbage collection tricycles and capachos (a fifty-gallon drum on wheels with a handle for pushing). In some cases the micro-enterprise workers have detected defects in the equipment and have introduced improvements in order to make their work easier and quicker.

In spite of the adaptations made, there are still technological aspects which need improvement. For example, the principal technical problem with the carts in El Salvador is the bicycle wheels, which are easily damaged by the weight of the refuse and the conditions of the terrain. In most cases, these are small problems which increase the operational costs of the enterprises.

4.4.3 Effectiveness versus efficiency

The techniques and technology used for the collection and transportation of waste have been adapted to the situations within in each locality and have largely been improvised. The collection method is effective, but can at the same time be inefficient. This does not reflect on the technology used, but rather on the enterprise’s poor logistics.

Taking the garbage collection micro-enterprises of Guatemala as an example, garbage collection can be said to be effective because, using appropriate technology, 90 to 95% of the waste produced by the population is collected and 60 to 70% of residents is willing to pay for the service. However, the system established to collect this 90% is not efficient. The clients are not concentrated in the same work area (a collector works in at least three different zones), and the distance between the work area and the workers’ homes is great (the worker must travel at least half an hour to get to his work area). Moreover, in some cases the unloading of waste at the final disposal sites is slow, thus prolonging operation time.

4.5 Linkages with municipalities

4.5.1 The responsibility of municipalities

In all cases, municipal responsibility for solid waste encompasses all of the corresponding services. However, solid waste management occupies a position of prime importance on the municipal agenda only in some cases. Only in Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil does the subject of solid waste receive political attention, although this does not always guarantee adequate solid waste management. Recovery and recycling are usually not seen as the responsibility of the municipality.

4.5.2 Types of relationships

The relationships between the municipalities and the PYME/COOP are very different in the countries investigated. On the one hand, in Guatemala the relationship is distant because the municipality does not intervene in any way in the functioning of the garbage collection system. There the micro-enterprises decide for themselves who they will provide their services to, how much they will charge their clients, when they will attend them, and so forth. While in Peru, on the other hand, the relationship is very close. The municipality determines in great detail how the PYME/COOP must operate.

4.5.3 Contractual relations

In the majority of the cities investigated the micro-enterprises operate under contract or concession from the municipality. This contract varies from a period of four to six months as in Cucuta, Colombia, to a period of several years. For example, in Costa Rica and in Villa Nueva, Guatemala, some PYME/COOPs have managed to acquire contracts for up to ten years. However, the majority of the contracts with the enterprises are for an average of one year.

Despite this, there are examples where the PYME/COOPs operate without written or verbal contracts, but have been granted authority to operate by the municipality. In the City of Guatemala, more than 300 micro-enterprises have collected solid waste without any form of contract for the last forty years. Likewise, there are examples such as the city of El Alto, Bolivia, the district of Villa El Salvador in Lima, Peru and the majority of the cities in Costa Rica where micro-enterprises are in operation.

4.5.4 Dependency relationships

Even when there is no contract between the PYME/COOP and the municipalities, a dependency relationship is sustained, especially with regard to the authorization necessary for access to the final disposal sites. These sites are almost always managed by the municipality, which is the reason why the PYME/COOPs require municipal permission to dispose of the solid waste collected. Another dependency relationship is the coordination required of the garbage collection enterprises, which do not directly transport the waste to the final point of disposal, and the municipal vehicles which should carry out this task.

4.6 Community Participation

The PYME/COOPs that are dedicated to garbage collection and transportation are those which establish closer relationships with the communities as a result of the characteristics of their activity. In this case the PYME/COOPs were created to meet the needs of the community. They offer personalized service and form part of the community. From the analysis it was concluded that the client's satisfaction with the service offered is vital to the permanence of the PYME/COOPs in the communities and is a necessary condition for their success.

From the start of the activities, and especially during operation, the communities participate in distinct ways:

• They put the waste out in time for collection and store it as required by the enterprises.
• They participate in community cleaning tasks.
• They pay for the service.
• They control and supervise the work. For example, they control the quality of the work, the running of the route according to the schedule, the demeanor of the worker, the correct use of the uniform and equipment, etc. They also comment on the service rendered, discuss the operative problems, and make suggestions concerning how the service can be improved.
• They participate in the management of the enterprise. For example, a few enterprises in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Brazil are the property of a community organization.
• They pressurise the municipal authorities into allowing the PYME/COOP to offer the service. For example, one community pressurised the municipality to retract its decision not to extend the enterprise’s contract.
• They participate in the design of solid waste collection projects to be presented to the municipality, in the convocation and selection of workers, in the establishing of tariffs, etc.

4.7 Roles of Stakeholders

The research identified a large variety of stakeholders’ roles, a few examples of which will be given here (see also Appendix 2). The simplest system encountered is the system whereby the enterprise delivers the services to the beneficiaries and the beneficiaries pay the enterprises directly. The role of the municipality is very limited and often implies no more than a certain type of authorization or tolerance. These systems are often spontaneous initiatives, which emerged without external support, and exist, for example, in Guatemala, Bolivia and Costa Rica. The case of Guatemala City is interesting (see Figure 2). The role of the municipality is almost absent, which makes this example one of total privatization. 300 to 400 yellow trucks, as they are called locally, provide waste collection services. The ‘technical support’ of the municipality means no more than a quick inspection of the vehicle, after which it receives a stamp. The non-profit sector (NGOs and CBOs) is completely absent.

The system in Peru and Bolivia is quite different (see Figure 3). It is important to note that most of the enterprises did not emerge spontaneously, but were initiated by NGOs at the request of either the community or the municipality. In this system the enterprise provides the service, the beneficiaries pay taxes to the municipality and the municipality contracts and pays the enterprise. The role of NGOs is very strong: they provide financial, technical and institutional advice and manage to obtain small loans from the banks. The system in La Paz, Bolivia, is basically the same as the Peruvian system. The differences are that the municipality of La Paz provides the loans and that a law was recently established to facilitate the participation of citizens through locally established Committees of Vigilance, which have a role in the monitoring and control of the enterprise. If the enterprise does not deliver an adequate service, these committees can complain, which may result in terminating the contract.

In Costa Rica, the situation is again quite different (see Figure 4). The enterprises studied operate in semi-urban areas, where the role of the municipality is often limited. Most of them also emerged spontaneously, in tourist areas in particular. In Costa Rica, CBOs are established by law and receive state financing, which they can spend according to their own needs and priorities. One system encountered is the ‘communal enterprise’, whereby the beneficiaries pay fees to the CBO and whereby the CBO employs workers to provide the service. Waste collection is only one of the activities of the CBO. Another system consists of beneficiaries paying the fees directly to the enterprises. These enterprises often receive payment from both the beneficiaries (the households) and the state.

5 Conclusions and Recommendations

It is difficult to draw specific conclusions from such a diversity of activities and experiences encountered in seven countries. However, the two most important general conclusions are presented below:

1. The PYME/COOPs studied and described, can contribute to solving the problems of urban waste management, directly tackling the main causes which generate them:
   • by introducing efficiency in waste management through the transfer of services to the PYME/COOP;
   • by reducing investment costs and operating costs involved in waste management by using unconventional systems characterized by the use of simple technologies and the intensive use of labour; and
   • by achieving the active participation of the population in the solution to environmental problems by seeking to raise their level of awareness of environmental health.

2. One of the major constraints the investigated enterprises face is the limited institutional framework in which they operate. In particular, the municipalities face serious problems with, for example, staff incompetence, inadequate legislative and regulatory infrastructure and inadequate administrative and financial systems. In this context, they can hardly comply with their normative, regulatory and fiscal functions, which are indispensable if enterprises are to provide the services in an adequate and integrated way.

Intervention programmes need to be directed at the three principle actors involved in waste management:

• municipalities and other government agencies: training in principles of integrated sustainable waste management, regulation and control of privatized services, taxation;
• small and micro enterprises and cooperatives: training in negotiating capacities, bookkeeping, working conditions, business management and
• the population: environmental education, strengthening of Community Based Organizations.

6 Proposed Follow-Up Activities

The following activities have been proposed:

• Execution of the project: `Urban Environmental Management of Solid Waste’ in La Ceiba
• Development of training manual
• Development of performance indicators
• Formulation of `Programme of Technical Assistance for microenterprises and municipalities in Latin-America

7 Literature

Castro, Cecilia and Jorge Price. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Peru. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Eigenheer, Emilio. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Brasil. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Ijgosse, Jeroen. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Guatemala. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Rudin, Victoria et al. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Costa Rica. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Toledo, Marta et al. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Colombia (Bogotá, Manizales, Chiquinquira). WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Meléndez, Carlos et al. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: El Salvador. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Plano, Felip. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Paraguay. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES. The Social Privatization of Public Environmental Services in Latin America: The Case of Micro and Small Enterprises and Cooperatives in Solid Waste Management. Preliminary report presented at HABITAT-II. Lima, May 1996.

WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES. Regional Overview: Latin America. Presented to the Workshop on Micro-Enterprises Involvement in Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries, UMP/SDC Collaborative Programme on MSWM in Low-Income Countries. Lima October 1996.

Zela, Cesar and Jorge Price. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Colombia (Medellin, Cucutá). WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

Zela, Cesar et al. Investigación Microempresas y Cooperativas en Gestión de Residuos Sólidos en América Latina. Caso: Bolivia. WASTE/ACEPESA/IPES, 1996.

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Appendix 1 Examples of Used Technology

1. Tricycle (e.g. Peru, Bolivia, Colombia)
2. Minitruck (e.g. Bolivia, Peru)
3. Open truck (e.g. Guatemala)
4. (Mini) tractor (e.g. Costa Rica, Brazil)
5. Handcart: separate waste collection (e.g. Colombia, Brazil)
6. Handcart: street sweeping and cleaning (e.g. Peru)
7. Handcart: waste collection (e.g. Bolivia)
8. Handcart: waste collection (e.g. El Salvador)

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