The vice president of Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), Circe Almanzar, He stated that the General Law on Solid Waste means a step forward in the country that includes extended producer responsibility and circular economy, but requires a lot of coordination and knowledge of government entities.
“That the public sector has adequate legal certainty and can invest in the new business model that is comprehensive waste management, as well as companies, action will generate numerous jobs for Dominican citizens,” said Almánzar.
He considers it important that each entity in society knows how they can participate in the proper management of waste, after specifying that the authorities need the resolution of the problematic of solid waste in our country, one of the serious problems that affects both tourism and society in general.
Interviewed in the program Toque Final with Julio Martinez Pozo which is transmitted by Antena 7, the businesswoman explained that said Law has been the product of many years of work and much consensus, approved in 2020 and that it is still in the process of implementation, after considering that what has been achieved with it It has been very positive, since the country did not have this legislation on waste management.
The regulations seek that the producer, marketer and everyone who participates in the waste chain, such as plastics and aluminum, be responsible for the marketing chain so that this good can return and can be reused, said the vice president of the AIRD.
Likewise, he specified that it implies fundamental changes in the structure of waste management in the country, from how sanitary landfills and dumps are going to be approved at the national level, which have to be done jointly with the authorities, but under the governing body what is he Ministry of Environment and that delimits the functions of the mayors so that they are specific with the collection and transport of urban solid waste.
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At the same time, it organizes the solid waste managers and the geographical location where the transfer stations should be and the future management of the recovery companies.
Meanwhile, the vice president of the AIRD explained that the circular economy occurs when the products consumed by the population can be used and reused after becoming waste and then transformed into new materials that can serve as secondary raw material.
“It is a process of changing from a linear production model to a circular economy model, where each of the natural resources we use can be used to reuse them again,” he specified.
He reported that this process has taken place in many parts of the world and that in the Dominican Republic it has been carried out under two integrated models of solid waste management that are carried out by the AIRD and the NGO NUVI.
One of the models deals with the plastic bottles used in beverageswhich can then be collected, compacted, crushed and finally processed in a food-grade transformation plant that turns it into a new one, he explained.
He said that the second model that they are finishing has to do with converting the products or rubble that is demolished in the constructions into new aggregates, which would allow not having to extract so many natural resources, take advantage of them and be sustainable for the environment.
