Page 38 - Respond 2020 Magazine

RESPOND

INTERASEO GROUP IN THE VANGUARD
Interaseo Group is a Colombian business
group that provides public water, sewage and
waste management services with a presence ON SOLID WASTE
in 57 municipalities in Colombia and in
five Latin American countries: Honduras, El
Salvador, Panama, Peru and Chile. MANAGEMENT

he Integrated Solid Waste Management (IMSW) has been an important aspect for the
government’s public policy agenda, taking into account that the annual percentage
Tof the tons that are wasted corresponds to 34% (DNP, 2017), still exists open air dumps,
a high percentage of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is generated, aspects that have an
impact on the sustainability of cities and their inhabitants.

Therefore, this article sets out the guidelines of the IMSW In this way, the government proposed a IMSW policy that
policy of the Colombian government, followed by the actions aims at the circular economy, minimizing the generation
carried out by the Interaseo Group to be at the forefront in of waste and maintaining the value of products and their
the provision of public services and finally the challenges materials in the economy for as long as possible (DNP, 2017).
they face. For this purpose, they propose five instruments:
1. Policy for the integral management of solid waste i) Prevention
ii) Reuse
2016-2030 Colombia
iii) Recycling
The National Planning Department of Colombia through
iv) Treatment (biological, power generation, volume or size
CONPES 3874 of 2016 established the IMSW policy,
integrating the direct goals of the Sustainable Development reduction)
Goals (SDGs) and the commitments of COP21, in the v) Final disposal
following sense:
2. IMSW of Interaseo Group
Interaseo is a Colombian business group that provides
• Objective 11.6. Reducing the negative environmental
impact on cities trough an emphasis on waste public water, sewage and waste management services with
management. a presence in 57 municipalities in Colombia and in five Latin
American countries: Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Peru
• Objective 12.3. Reducing food waste and production
and Chile. In all its operations, Interaseo stands out for the
losses on supply chains.
following contributions to the fulfillment of the SDGs and the
• Objective 12.4. Achieving an environmentally reasonable
and balanced waste management. implementation of the IMSW:
• Objective 12.5. Decreasing waste generation.
• Achieve carbon footprint annual reduction targets, which
• Commitment to COP21. Reducing greenhouse gas
reached 34,205 tons of CO2 last year for Colombian • Environmental monitoring systems in order to guarantee • 4,212,157 km of beach and public areas cleaning and
emissions (GHG) by 6% in the waste sector.
operations. the quality of service provision and compliance with the sweeping
obligations related to environmental licenses. • 3,736,289 tons of final disposal
• Implementation of treatment systems such as the • 2,458,680 tons collected
generation of electric power 8.1 MW at the Cerro Patacon • 870,918 tons transferred
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sanitary landfill in Panama City. • 620,389 m of treated leachate
• Comprehensive management for waste from • 817 tons effectively recycled
construction, demolition and hazardous waste.
On the other hand, the Interaseo Group has provided
• Final disposal of waste, with high quality standards and
improvements in the quality of life in essential aspects such
complying with the regulations in force for the 16 sanitary
as access to public home services, for which alliances have
landfills operated in Colombia and abroad.
been established with territorial entities in order to boost,
• Transfer of solid waste and micro routing efficiency, which
optimize and generate sustainable development in these
has allowed reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)
territories.
by having to make fewer trips to landfills.
• Machinery and efficient equipment for the integral 3. Challenges of the Interaseo Group
management of solid waste. The challenges of the Interaseo Group are mainly focused on
• Sorting and harvesting stations have been installed with remaining a benchmark in the provision of public services,
the objective of increasing the materials that can be implementing and evaluating alternatives to final disposal
reincorporated into the production chain in order not to that generate greater environmental benefits and being
be taken to the landfills. economically sustainable over time.
All these actions have allowed an average performance that Bibliography
in 2018 includes: • DNP (March 2017). National Planning Department.
Retrieved from www.dnp.gov.co
2
• 48,849 m of public areas washing
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• 49,008 m of debris technical disposal • INTERASEO S.A.S. E.S.P. (July 2019). General Directorate
• 30,186 tire units properly disposed of Corporate Social Responsibility. Social Balance 2018
• 9,960 tons of hazardous waste
www.interaseo.com.co
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• 65,855,993 m of lawn mowing
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