Waste-resource flows of short-lived goods in households of Santiago de Cuba

In this paper, we apply the method of material flow analysis to analyze the consumption and waste mass flows of short-lived goods and we provide first insights into the waste management behavior of households in Santiago de Cuba. The goods analyzed are glass, aluminum, organic material and PET. The necessary data were gathered in personal interviews with 1171 households using a standardized questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about socio-demographic variables, such as age, sex, education, income and occupation. The households were asked how many PET bottles, aluminum and glass containers they consume per month and how they dispose of the different kinds of garbage. Our investigations show that: (i) Cuba has a high recycling rate closely comparable to that of Switzerland and Germany, which have the highest recycling rates world-wide. The high recycling rate is achieved through a combination of social organization, control and internalized norms. In contrast to other developing countries, where the informal sector plays an important role in recycling activities, in Santiago de Cuba the contribution of the informal sector is marginal. (ii) The preferred recycling path, where 50–70% of the waste is disposed of, is Comité de Defensa de la Revolución, Revolution Defense Committee (CDR), a collection entity organized at the neighborhood sector level, which also fulfills social control functions. (iii) Recyclable goods could also be sold in the “cases to compra”, where for 20 empty bottles, a filled one can be obtained. However, this recycling path is only used for 1.5–5% of the waste fraction. This can be explained by the fact that, in addition to the social control provided by CDR, pushing people to bring their recyclable materials to CDR, there is a problem of reputation: people who collect empty bottles are looked down on. (iv) There are virtually no differences in the disposal and recycling pattern between the rich and the poor quartile of the population.