For the purposes of interpretation and application of this Regulation, the following terms have the meaning indicated:
Sidewalk (Acera): Part of the public thoroughfare, normally located at its edges, reserved for pedestrian traffic.
Collection center (Acopio): Action tending to gather solid waste in a specific and appropriate place for its collection, treatment, or final disposal.
Temporary storage (Almacenamiento temporal): Deposit of solid waste or discards during a short period, in containers prior to its collection, treatment, or final disposal.
Recovery (Aprovechamiento): Set of actions whose purpose is to maintain the materials that constitute them in economic or commercial cycles, through their reuse, remanufacture, redesign, reprocessing, recycling, and recovery of secondary materials whereby their economic value is not lost.
Canton (Cantón): Canton of Tilarán, Guanacaste.
Recovery center for recoverable materials (Centro de recuperación de materiales valorizables): A permanent site for the temporary storage (almacenamiento temporal) of waste for its valorization, where recoverable materials are weighed, classified, and separated according to their commercialization process: plastic, cardboard, paper, glass, and metals (parts of vehicles, disused machinery and equipment, electrical and telecommunications cable, aluminum, and other metals), for their subsequent sale. These recovery centers for recoverable waste are commonly known as collection centers (centros de acopio). Their establishment and operation are regulated in the Regulation of Recovery Centers for Recoverable Waste, Executive Decree No. 41052-S Effective 06/01/2018 and its amendments.
Classification (Clasificación): Activity of sorting waste by type according to its characteristics for subsequent recovery.
Composting (Compostaje): Technique that allows the aerobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter in a controlled manner to achieve a product usable as a soil amendment.
Municipal Council (Concejo Municipal): A collegial body, composed of popularly elected council members, who, placed in a situation of equality, are responsible for expressing a will that is that of the Municipal Council itself, which is manifested through the adoption of municipal agreements that create, modify, or require situations related to the Administration of local interests.
Container (Contenedor): Receptacles intended for the temporary deposit of recoverable and non-recoverable waste.
Final disposal (Disposición final): Orderly and definitive placement, distribution, and confinement of ordinary waste in a site designed for this purpose.
Debris (Escombros): Waste generated from the processes of construction or demolition of works and infrastructure such as remnants of wood, concrete, bricks, steel, plastics, paper and cardboard, and other materials that constitute waste from a construction site.
Generator (Generador): Natural or legal person, public or private, user of the municipal service of collection, treatment, and final disposal of the solid waste they produce.
Manager (Gestor): Natural or legal person, public or private, responsible for the total or partial management of waste and duly registered and authorized for this purpose by the Ministry of Health.
Integrated Waste Management (Gestión Integral de Residuos): Articulated and interrelated set of regulatory, operational, financial, administrative, educational, planning, monitoring, and evaluation actions for the handling of waste, from its generation to final disposal.
Incentives (Incentivos): Benefit granted to generators who contribute to correct management, demonstrating minimization and the application of the hierarchy in integrated waste management established in Law No. 8839.
Lot (Lote): Land demarcated from neighboring properties with access to one or more paths or roads. It may be for private, public, or communal use.
Municipality (Municipalidad): A state legal entity with its own assets and full legal personality and capacity to execute all types of acts and contracts necessary to fulfill its purposes.
Municipal Plan for the Integrated Management of Solid Waste (Plan Municipal para la Gestión Integral de Residuos Sólidos, PMGIRS): participatory planning instrument that defines the municipal policy and actions for the integrated management of waste in the canton.
Recycling (Reciclaje): Transformation of waste through different valorization processes that allow restoring its economic and energy value, thus avoiding its final disposal, provided that this restoration implies savings in energy and raw materials without harm to health and the environment.
Collection (Recolección): Action of collecting solid waste under municipal jurisdiction or by private entities authorized by the Municipality, at the generation sources or selective collection sites, in accordance with what is established in this regulation, to be transported to transfer stations, treatment facilities, or final disposal.
Waste (Residuos): Solid, gaseous, or liquid materials that their generator or possessor must dispose of, and which can or must be valorized or treated appropriately or, failing that, managed by adequate final disposal systems.
Solid waste (Residuo sólido): Solid or semi-solid, post-consumer material, that its generator or possessor must or needs to dispose of and which can or must be responsibly valorized or treated or, failing that, be managed by adequate final disposal systems.
Waste requiring special handling (Residuos de manejo especial): That which, due to its composition, transport needs, storage conditions, forms of use, or recovery value, or a combination of these, implies significant risks to health and systematic degradation of ecosystem quality, and therefore requires removal from the normal stream of ordinary waste.
Ordinary solid waste (Residuo sólido ordinario): Waste of a domestic nature generated in homes and any other source, presenting compositions similar to those from homes. Hazardous waste and waste requiring special handling (residuos peligrosos y de manejo especial), regulated in the Law for Integrated Waste Management No. 8839 and its remaining binding legislation, are excluded.
Recoverable solid waste (Residuos sólido-valorizables): Items that after their use maintain a returnable value or can be reused.
Non-recoverable solid waste (Residuo sólido no valorizable): Waste that has no use or recovery value and must be properly disposed of in a sanitary landfill or other mechanism authorized by the Ministry of Health.
Hazardous solid waste (Residuos sólido peligroso): That which, by its corrosive, radioactive, toxic, infectious, biological characteristics, or a combination thereof, may cause toxic, explosive, corrosive, radioactive, biological, bio-infectious, flammable, combustible reactions, or others that may cause damage to the health of people and the environment. The following, among others, shall be considered as hazardous waste originating in housing units:
batteries, flammable substances (paint and solvent residues), used oils, containers that have housed chemicals (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, etc.), electronic equipment, and used hypodermic needles.
Selective collection service (Servicio de recolección selectiva): Transport of solid waste previously separated at source, on different schedules or separately from the collection services for non- recoverable and non-traditional waste.
Treatment (Tratamiento): Transformation of waste or specific parts into new products or the change of their characteristics, such as recycling, composting (compostaje), mechanical-biological treatment, thermal treatment, among others.
User (Usuario): Has the category of user for the purposes of the provision of the services regulated herein, any natural and legal person who is affected or benefited by the integrated waste management (GIRS) services.
Clandestine dump (Vertedero clandestino): A place where, without technical considerations and without any authorization from the competent authorities, a user chooses to deposit their waste.
Public thoroughfare (Vía pública): Any land in the public domain and for common use, which by provision of the administrative authority is designated for free transit in accordance with the laws and regulations of territorial planning.
Municipal Powers and Obligations