We’ll see two topics, tied with each other, that I found really interesting : energy and copper industry (Chile being the biggest producer of that resource in the world). But first, a short introduction about the level of sensitiveness of Chileans, thanks to a young and -a bit- committed young professor at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Rodrigo Lopez Insinilla.

Rodrigo is involved in several projects and the one I’ll write about is yoreciclo.cl (« I recycle »). After some evolutions, it’s now a “meeting platform for needs”, as he says. Everything began with a group of professors of the Faculty of Agronomy in 2006 who had the idea to spread information on recycling in Santiago, at a time when people didn’t even wonder what is recycling. They created a static web page that evolved 3 years after into a blog of spreading information, more than a blog of opinion. Since then, they’ve been building the social network of recycling with an increasing reputation.

Santiaguinos can use this “facebook of recycling” making questions about ways to recycle some goods. Rodrigo and his colleagues, as they know “the network”, connect people with each other to answer everyone’s needs. For example, we can learn how to use old newspapers or how to use recycled materials in theater. Yoreciclo also organizes workshops, to learn to reuse plastic bags or to make jewels with plastic bottles.

But we could also use Yoreciclo to measure the evolution in Santiaguinos’ minds towards recycling. According to Rodrigo, they still don’t have the culture of sorting and recycling. He’s trying to teach this culture through the 3 “R” : reduce, reuse, recycle. “There is so much to do before recycling, people don’t understand that easily.”

Rodrigo explains that we face the decision to recycle or not about 20 times per day but we are aware of only a quarter, only when it’s the most obvious. He also states that a Santiaguino produces in average 1.3kg of daily waste. 70% of this waste could be recycled but only 7% are. “I’m convinced that if people were taught to sort, we could reach these 70%.” According to him, neither Chile nor Santiago is ready to really understand the necessity to reduce the quantity of waste produced. Yet, it is very complicated to launch a movement when the initiative doesn’t come from the community. “The authority tried several times to encourage the inhabitants to sort the waste but it doesn’t work because the community doesn’t react. We need new legal tools that oblige people to sort. And this obligation should produce knowledge.”

And technically, is the city able to recycle 70% of its waste ? Currently, the problem is the financial and social cost of moving the waste from houses to recycling facilities : it’s neither profitable for a private company nor good for the community because benefits of recycling would be more than compensated by pollution of transport. Yet, Rodrigo thinks that recycling would be a good thing to sensitize people. “We are learning and sorting, even though many people don’t like it, has a great value.” Currently, only the richest cities of the agglomeration have means to recycle, as recycling is still not a legal obligation.

Then it is essential to make people understand the importance of recycling, sorting and reducing waste. In june, Rodrigo had been happily surprised by the success of a “public call” that his association made to offer to volunteers to take part in different projects (development of research on state of art of laws and norms, workshops…). 30 people accepted to get involved in the association’s activities. If you think it’s not much, Rodrigo will tell you that people who decide to really get involved represent only about 2% of people who follow and are interested in the organization.

However, I have to admit, it’s not easy to evaluate the size of this –small ?- movement in the city. After staying 5 months in Chile and 4 in Santiago, I feel that facilities to sort often exist in public places like malls or my faculty, but sorting barely exist in houses. Only some glass bottles work in a deposit system but glass in general is not recycled.

At the Faculty of Economics, there are many recycling points

But let’s go back to Yoreciclo and its future. In the next months, a complementary NGO will be created to develop an activity of lobbying on the theme of recycling, influence some authorities… “There is a great will to go in the street and denounce” states Rodrigo. This NGO would be a bit like Greenpeace but specialized in Recycling.

The history of this movement, from a static web page to an NGO, « is a bit like Chile » concludes Rodrigo : “everyone is really active” and moves. Let’s hope that Yoreciclo will accompany this movement of sensitization many more years !

See you soon, Be green, Ben