Environmental voluntary commitments, an instrument to support urban solid waste management

Abstract

Chilean companies that intend to develop projects that may affect the environment should submit the activities of the project life-cycle and the measures for mitigation, compensation or reclamation of these environmental impacts to an evaluation process, in which the competent authority verifies its environmental feasibility. This process starts with the submission of an environmental impact statement or an environmental impact study (EIS). In this context of social and environmental responsibility, some companies decide to make voluntary environmental commitments as members of the community where the project or activity is taking place, with the purpose of contributing to the solution of a problem that although has not yet arisen from the performance of the project, may affect them in the future. This article reports the experience of voluntary environmental commitments, proposed within the framework of the EIS by a private company as an effective management tool to submit appropriate technical solutions to improve the solid waste management in a Commune in the north of Chile. To address the problem of the final disposal of solid wastes generated by the Caldera commune, it was necessary to collect available information, generate technical data and hold periodical meetings with different public and private entities, which led to the proposal of a technical solution through an engineering project that can be submitted to public or private financial agents. After completion of the work, it was concluded that the voluntary environmental commitments intended to benefit the community are a feasible tool to face environmental problems. This instrument provides a basis for cooperation and association in which commitments are made by public and private entities involved.