Last January 19th, together with part of our team and our territorial partners, Starken, Atando Cabos/Recollet, and AZA, we carried out the first waste collection route of the year in Cochamó: the monthly visit to the community that supports our collection of raw materials for our frames.
Long story short, this collection route has 3 stops: 1st one in Puelo, where the raw materials collected from this location -and often from Llanada Grande, and Sotomó too- are consolidated and prepared to be carried; 2nd one in Cochamó, where the home collection of the collectors of that locality takes place; 3rd one, Rollizo, a place in the south coast of the Reloncaví Estuary where the waste collected from Pocoihuén and Rollizo, neighboring towns with very little population, but with large participation in the total of the quantity of waste collected, awaits us. And it looks something like this:
So, what was the twist that we said earlier: This collection route was the first one in which we officially collaborated with the Municipality of Cochamó, giving them a hand in the consolidation and management of recycled waste. How? We picked the aluminum collected in the clean points installed by the Municipality throughout the commune through one of the Impact Leaders that work with us, to then go through the same process of cleaning and baling as the rest of the raw materials.
What does this mean? It means that we will continue to support the recycling and waste management service for the territory, now in a more collaborative work together with the municipality, in addition to achieving a greater amount of waste recycled by the collectors, which translates into a greater monetary income for them, hoping that this model will last and can be replicated in other rural areas. Great, isn't it?
"And what about the numbers!" they shout from afar. Well, the final tally of the first collection of 2022 together with the community was... -drum roll-:
- Aluminum → 241,5 kg
- Scrap metal → 153,7 kg
- Iron → 17 kg
- Ropes and fishing nets → 75,4 kg
A grand total of 487,6 kgs.