Thought 10FEB2010

GETTING THE GARBAGE OUT
When architect Jaime Lerner was appointed mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, in 1973, it was a rapidly growing town of 500,000 with sprawling favelas (slums). The favelas had many problems, not the least of which was garbage that could not be collected because of narrow or non-existence streets. Since trucks could not get in and because the garbage was attracting rodents that could carry disease, Lerner had to come up with a way to get the garbage out. His solution was to pay people for their garbage by placing recycling bins around the favelas and giving the people tokens to the city's transport system for the separated and, therefore, recyclable trash. For organic waste, which was taken by farmers and made into fertilizer for their fields, he gave chits that could be exchanged for food.

It has worked spectacularly. Kids scour the favelas for trash and can spot the difference between polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene bottles. The tokens give the poorer citizens the means to get out of the favelas to where the jobs are, while promoting cleanliness, frugality and the reclaiming and recycling of waste.
Paul Hawken - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work', Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss, Health Communications, Inc., 1996.
Nunca llueve a gusto de todos / One man's meat is another man's poison - Spanish Proverb