Contributory project: It is designed by scientists, and citizens participate in data collection.

Objectives: 

• Determine the amount and composition of household waste generated by CABA residents, engaging citizens in such process. 

• Learn about current waste management habits of households and their willingness to change. 

• Have useful and necessary evidence available to design proposals for waste management improvement in the city. 

• Engage citizens so that, by having in-depth knowledge of the amount of waste generated by them, they may take better-informed decisions about consumption and waste management. 

Description of citizen participation: CABA (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, in Spanish) residents are invited to participate in sorting and weighing daily generated household waste. Participants receive a scale to weigh the waste generated over one week, to be sorted into:

• Paper and cardboard (including Tetra Brik packages)

• Plastics

• Other recyclables (glass, metals and fabrics)

• Organic materials

• Others (e.g., diapers, cat litter, dirty packaging, boxes or other containers which may not be cleaned)

Waste in the first three categories must be clean, dry, and weighed at the end of the week, while waste in the remaining categories may be weighed once a week or more often before its disposal. The activity is completed once participants have entered the data and answered a brief survey through a web app on the platform of Lab Ciudadano. Arrangements are then made for scale pickup. 

Time frame. 03/16/2019 – N/A

Project leaders. 

• María Semmartin, School of Agriculture, UBA 

• Verónica Pierini, School of Agriculture, UBA

Contact information. 

Email: semmartin@agro.uba.ar ; pierini@agro.uba.ar ; observatorio.muestreo@gmail.com 

Web: www.labciudadano.net