We designed the first Urban and Green Waste Composting Station in São Tomé and Príncipe.
In 2013, in the pilot phase, ECOGESTUS Lda. Managed to boost the production of 4,000 kg of compost, ready to be delivered to local farmers.
In 2014, up to 50,000 kg will be produced. The project “Decentralization and community participation in the management of solid waste in the City of São Tomé”, created with the main objective of improving public hygiene and cleaning conditions in the city of São Tomé – and thus increasing public health conditions – was started in 2009 and is in the II phase of implementation. Phase I of the project lasted 50 months and was completed in December 2012. The investment amount, around € 750,000, was 75% financed by the European Union, 12.5% by the former IPAD, 8, 1% by the District Council of Água Grande (CDAG) and 4.4% by UCCLA.
ECOGESTUS designed a new tool that aims to finance waste management in São Tomé: the Environmental Impact Rate (TIA). It is a fee to be applied to the nominal value of imported products – a fee between 1 to 10% corresponding to the respective environmental impact, repairing the damage caused to the country by the generation of waste in need of collection, transport and treatment.
TIA will be the main means to carry out the Investment Financing necessary for Waste Management. The Producer’s Extended Responsibility: all packaged products, and manufactured goods, are transformed into waste, is the responsibility of the respective management of the Producer.
Types of products targeted by TIA: all those that generate waste, especially packaging waste and materials that need final treatment so as not to contaminate the environment.
Equity and solidarity: application of TIA target non-essential goods, making marginal products (a majority, 2.5% of CIF) marginally expensive.
Country development: the Tax aims to combat poverty by alleviating environmental pressure, unhealthiness, and creating employment and wealth creation opportunities – new lines of recycling and reuse of materials that without financing through TIA are impossible to achieve.
Since 2009 ECOGESTUS has been involved in structuring collection services in São Tomé.
The primary objective is to create and maintain a regular Urban Waste Collection Service in the city of São Tomé:
- In this phase, the population began to be sensitized to participate in cleaning and depositing their MSW’s in an appropriate manner, thus avoiding the creation of litter outbreaks;
- Selective Waste Collection (glass, batteries, organic matter) has been encouraged with the design of specific collection circuits, choice of appropriate equipment (containers, vehicles, etc.) and description of the routes.
