In 2007, the city of Buenos Aires
implemented the 1854 Law for the Integral Management of Urban
Solid Waste. The law adopts the ZW principle to organize the entire
life cycle of solid waste. The law prohibited waste incineration2
and set goals and milestones to decrease the amount of waste
buried in landfills, thereby establishing concrete deadlines. The
first was a reduction of 30% by the year 2010, followed by a
reduction of 50% by 2012 and the eventually a reduction of 75% by
2017. These milestones were based on the volume of solid waste
buried in the 2004 in the Ecological Coordination, Metropolitan
Area and State Society (CEAMSE), i.e., 1.49million tons
Another
relevant provision of the Law consisted of banning landfilling of
recyclable and compostable waste by 2020. Zero Waste embraces
the entire life cycle of solid waste, which starts from the reduction
of waste generation by changing consumption habits and reusing.
In Argentina, several reusable menstrual technological
innovations have been developed locally by entrepreneurial
women, as well as imported to the country from multiple parts of
the world, mainly the UK, US, Germany and, very recently, China.
Among them, we find menstrual cups and reusable pads.
One of the main weaknesses of the ZW law implementation has
been its focus on end-of pipe solutions. Even if waste prevention
and behavioural change are essential parts of the law and
in its regulations, these aspects have been neglected in practice.
