Loncoche joins the Trash-free Neighborhoods Challenge
The community joins the waste reduction project that is already operating in eight other municipalities in the regions of Biobío, La Araucanía and Maule, in south-central Chile.
The official launch of Trash-free Loncoche took place on Monday, a district-wide program that is part of the Trash-free Neighborhoods Challenge implemented by CMPC, with the support of Kyklos, an environmental culture B company, and the municipalities. The project seeks to reduce the amount of waste that makes it to dumps and landfills by promoting sustainable practices in south-central Chile.
The event was held at the Alborada School Gymnasium in Loncoche and brought together municipal authorities such as Mayor Alexis Pineda, the CMPC Corporate Affairs Comprehensive Projects Deputy Manager Paula Aguirre as well as representatives from Loncoche social organizations and schools, and others.
Loncoche Mayor Alexis Pineda said, “Thanks to the efforts of CMPC and Kyklos today we are launching the Trash-free Loncoche program. This is a truly wonderful way of dealing with this serious problem facing modern society in terms of handling household waste and what we can do with it.”
CMPC Corporate Affairs Comprehensive Projects Deputy Manager Paula Aguirre said, “Loncoche joins the other districts where we are already executing this amazing program in which we have recycled 100 tons so far. We hope to be able to fully empower the municipality in this regard, which is why today we’re here asking for all social organizations, neighborhood councils and the community in general to join this challenge to create a much cleaner and more sustainable community.”
The We Nepen Educational Center for Comprehensive Development Director Ruth Delgado said, “This is a tremendous development of the municipality, which is what the country and the world need today. I feel that you have to build awareness in families. Therefore, if we manage to reach not only our students, but their families as well, we can achieve this goal in the medium term.”
Recycling campaign in schools
As part of the inaugural milestone, special recognition was given to the educational establishments of Loncoche that participated in the paper and cardboard recycling campaign between November of last year and March 2023 that included eight other districts in the La Araucanía, Biobío and Maule Regions. Working together the Domitila Pinna Parra School, the Padre Alberto Hurtado Bicentennial High School, the Andrés Bello Polytechnic High School, the Bosque Encantado Nursery and Pre-school the Pimpollito Pre-school, the Rafael Pombo Country School, the Niño Jesús Language School, Christian College, the We Nepen Comprehensive Development Educational Center, the Alborada School, and the Santa Cruz School together were able to collect approximately 17.5 tons of waste, making Loncoche the community with the highest collection rate of the entire campaign.
The Trash-free Loncoche Challenge is part of the Trash-free Neighborhoods program operating in various districts of the Biobío Region (Los Ángeles, Mulchén, Nacimiento, Laja, San Rosendo, and Negrete), La Araucanía (Collipulli), and Maule (Yerbas Buenas). This initiative has enabled the collection of 100 tons of recycling in the last three years, preventing them from ending up in dumps or landfills, being entirely put to valuable use. This means that all collected materials have been reused. The program has also supported the municipalities’ efforts to recycle by offering advice and environmental education, through talks in schools and by participating in environmental fairs, action plans and other community initiatives to promote environmental education.
