The role of socio-territorial conditions and distance to infrastructure for promoting recycling in Latin American cities: The case of Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Convenient distances and higher density of drop-off points are expected to increase the probability of people participating in waste separation. However, although several analyses search for optimal distances between users and drop-off points, they tend to concentrate on European case studies. Few studies have analysed the actuallyexisting experiences regarding these factors in cities from the Global South. In this context, the authors provide an analysis on Santiago, the capital of Chile. A survey (N = 387) is generated to represent five neighbourhood clusters, and a logit binary outcome model is used to analyse the data. The research also considers territorial conditions based on the specific characteristics of the Latin American cities, particularly socioeconomic variables and location (i.e. centre versus periphery). The findings point towards a prominent role of educational levels, and an inverted U relationship between proximity to drop off points and the probability of recycling. Additionally, in the case of metals, results indicate that probability of recycling is higher both in the areas that concentrate the poor and in those that concentrate the rich. Such result is most likely associated to a contrasting relationship between recycling and socioeconomic variables: one linked to the need of generating income, and the other to privilege (i.e. conspicuous consumption and domestic workers).