Here and Within: A Local Waste Management System

Abstract: This work is a critique to the stigmatisation of trash as something we should not live close together with. Due to this derogative conceptualisation of waste together with the inherent characteristics of landfills, Mexico City’s government implemented a “far and out” policy locating the final disposal areas distant and out from the city. Then, the proposal is the opposite approach: a local waste management system. So waste that usually ends kilometers away is handled in the community where it was produced in order to lengthen the life cycle of materials. The project is developed in Xochimilco for the challenges regarding the door-to-door collection of waste in this municipality. The local system focuses in the sorting process; being the most inefficient part of the current system as this activity is primarily executed by informal workforce. Besides, the type of waste that the community is able to manage completely locally is organic materials which are the principal element of the system for the regeneration of wetlands.