Women's economic empowerment and equality in solid waste management and recycling: Latin America and the Caribbean landscape

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have some of the fastest-growing cities in the world – with accompanying rapidly increasing rates of waste generation. Poor waste management systems coupled with expansive coastlines and extensive internal waterways that carry unmanaged waste to the ocean pose a grave threat to surrounding marine environments and related tourism (see box 1). In Peru, for example, the per capita generation of waste at the local level has increased by 40 percent over the last 10 year. 1 This increase in production is problematic given the region’s incipient solid waste management (SWM) and recycling systems and limited public awareness of the importance of recycling and proper waste disposal.