Overview

Waste Management and Disposal Services 

There are waste disposals in the regions of the country that belong to municipalities ‘associations, but there is a main one, MIDES, which provides waste management for hazardous products. Each municipality rents or has its own waste truck to collect the garbage from the houses and deliver it to the waste disposal sites.  

The Japanese aid, through JICA, helped municipal authorities to improve the waste management in the east side of the country back in 2006. The provided equipment, machinery and training locally and in Japan. The municipalities provided the site and labour. From this experience other municipalities learned and took the example. 

As of 2016, around 3,400 tons of solid waste were generated in the country per day. At that year El Salvador had 16 authorized sanitary landfills, which received 3007.47 tons / day of waste, of which only eight had the capacity to receive quantities greater than 26 tons per day, these received 98% (2,961 tons / day of waste ), operating mechanically: Nejapa, Sonsonate, San Miguel, Usulután, Santa Ana, La Libertad, Chalantenango and Santa Rosa de Lima. 

There are eight sanitary landfills with a smaller capacity (less than 26 Ton / day) that receive 2% (46.67 Ton / day) and operate manually: San Francisco Menéndez, Atiquizaya, Suchitoto, Santa Isabel Ishuatán, Cinquera, Corinto, Meanguera, and Perquín. The Ahuachapán Landfill is out of operation 

The final disposal of waste is carried out under the responsibility of local governments (mayors), either directly or in association with other municipalities or private companies, such as MIDES S.E.M. de C.V. 

The map below shows the current waste landfill sites in the country. 

The map below shows the compost sites: 

In 2016, the Ministier of Natural Resources drafted a new law. The preliminary draft of the Comprehensive Waste Management Law of El Salvador involves several aspects, all of which were taken into account. These axes of analysis were four: the analysis of the characteristics of the country; the analysis of the national legal framework and international agreements; the revision of national waste laws in other countries, and new trends in the world regarding waste management. The axes were based on criteria of sustainability, climate change, among others, which are setting new trends in production and development hand in hand with caring for the environment and the health of the population.  

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources had a Monitoring and Supervision System (SMS) for the management of solid waste; that has the information provided by the Municipalities, the information obtained from the operational reports and from the reports of the supervision carried out by the staff of the solid waste unit and the MARN environmental evaluation system (SEA) regarding the systems of treatment and final disposal. 

Indicators generated in the following areas: quality of service, operation and environmental sustainability; which may be consulted by the general public related to: 

• Swept 

• Harvest 

• Transport 

• Composting plants 

• Transfer Stations 

• Landfills 

Source: http://sms.marn.gob.sv/sms/indicadores/rangofechas 

NON-HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL

Non-hazardous waste can be disposed in any of the landfill sites.  

HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL

With regard to hazardous waste, the country has made progress in the remediation of the contaminated sites identified in the “Inventory of pesticides classified as persistent organic pollutants (COPS)”, with the cleaning, eviction and treatment of pesticide waste from At the AGROJEL (San Miguel) and QUIMAGRO (San Luis Talpa) sites, 126.01 tons of hazardous waste consisting of obsolete pesticides and contaminated soils have been eliminated, corresponding to 90.11% of the country's environmental liabilities, and the elimination of 9.89% is planned. remaining for 2016. 

MARN decreed in 2010 for the first time an environmental emergency in a radius of 1,500 meters around the facilities of the Baterías de El Salvador S.A. factory. de CV, located in the Sitio del Niño canton, municipality of San Juan Opico, after the analyzes determined environmental contamination by lead at levels that represent a danger to health, since that date the MARN in coordination with different State institutions has developed actions Aimed at reducing the vulnerability of people within the emergency radius, such as health care, asphalt primer in streets near the former factory, construction of a drinking water system and continuation of environmental monitoring in the area; All these actions have been made known to the community through the development of 21 informative Assemblies with the Sitio del Niño Community and 16 bilateral meetings. This process has had technical support from the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America (US EPA) (Technical visits, consultations and recommendations) 

MARN has listed in its site the companies authorized to: 

• Handling, storage and use of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) 

• Reception, treatment and final disposal by type of hazardous material and waste 

• Hazardous Materials Transportation 

• Bio infectious waste transport 

• Transportation of used oil and burnt oil 

• Transportation of Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULAB) 

The list also shows the name, telephone, type of authorization and type of authorised material. Guidelines are attached to this document. 

 Source: https://www.marn.gob.sv/residuos-peligrosos/ 

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