For the purposes of this regulation, the following definitions apply:
Stockpiling (Acopio): action aimed at gathering solid waste in a specific and appropriate place for its collection, treatment or final disposal.
Municipal Mayor's Office (Alcaldía Municipal): person elected by popular vote to head and direct the government of their municipality, is the principal administrative or executive official of the municipality, an institution which is constitutionally granted autonomy to attend to its affairs and fulfill its functions.
Storage: action of temporarily retaining waste provided it is delivered to the municipal collection program.
Temporary storage (Almacenamiento temporal): deposit of solid waste or refuse for a short period, in containers prior to its collection, treatment or final disposal.
Recovery (Aprovechamiento): set of actions whose purpose is to maintain the constituent materials in economic or commercial cycles, through their reuse, remanufacture, design, reprocessing, recycling, and recovery of secondary materials with which their economic value is not lost.
Comprehensive Development Association (Asociación de Desarrollo Integral): Organization of the civil population at the district level; they are public interest entities, although governed by private law norms (REGULATION TO LAW 3859 on Community Development).
Drop-off centers (Centros de acopio) or recovery center for recoverable waste (centro de recuperación de residuos valorizables): permanent sites for temporary storage of waste, where recoverable materials are weighed, classified and separated according to their nature: plastic, cardboard, paper, glass and metals, for their valorization and subsequent sale.
Competence (Competencia): power of action that falls to a person or unit in a position in an institution.
Composting (Compostaje): is the biological degradation process under aerobic conditions of the organic matter present in biodegradable solid waste.
Container (Contenedor): is the device used to place containers of wet and dry solid waste until collection; they can be metal baskets, drums, metal or concrete enclosures or similar.
Municipal Council (Concejo Municipal): deliberative body, composed of popularly elected municipal councilors, which makes agreements that transcend the community.
Department / Environmental Management Unit: administrative department responsible for ensuring compliance with the different regulatory and administrative provisions on environmental management.
Final disposal (Disposición final): action of depositing or confining, permanently, solid waste, in sites or facilities whose characteristics prevent harm to the health of the population and ecosystems.
Waste (Desecho): material that was once used and is no longer functional for the person who acquired it.
Transfer station (Estación de transferencia): installation that, with the necessary equipment, allows the change of the means of transport of non-hazardous solid waste, from collection units to higher-capacity vehicles for transport to a treatment facility or to final disposal.
Operational and technical structure: Department/Environmental Management Unit and the Municipal Commission for Solid Waste Management, responsible.
Anaerobic fermentation (Fermentación anaeróbica): technique that allows the decomposition and stabilization, by the action of microorganisms, of solid and liquid organic solid waste.
Generation source (Fuente de generación): place where waste is generated.
Generator: individual or legal entity, public or private, that produces waste when developing productive, agricultural, service, marketing or consumption processes.
Integrated management of solid waste (Gestión integral de residuos sólidos, GIRS): articulated and interrelated set of regulatory, operational, financial, administrative, educational, planning, monitoring, evaluation and any other actions, aimed at managing solid waste, from its generation to final disposal.
Institutional environmental manager (Gestor ambiental institucional): individual or legal entity that performs professional work in the field of Environmental Management, for the development of the Environmental Management Programs of Institutions and their evaluation instruments, as well as in their process of review, approval, control and monitoring.
Integrated Management (Manejo Integral): Technical measures and administrative measures to comply with the provisions of Law No. 8839 and its regulation.
Organic matter (Materia orgánica): plant material of domestic origin, such as peels, animal and vegetable residues.
Vegetable or biodegradable matter (Materia vegetal o biodegradable): branches, grass, crop stubble, rejected crops, among others.
MINAE: Ministry of Environment and Energy MINSA: Ministry of Health.
Municipality of Santa Bárbara: territorially decentralized entity, which is in charge of the administration of local interests and services. For the purposes of this regulation, whenever indicated, it must be understood as Municipality.
Obligation: function or group of functions that must be performed by a public or private, individual or legal entity or unit established in current legislation.
Municipal Plan for the Integrated Management of Solid Waste (Plan Municipal para la Gestión Integral de Residuos Sólidos, PMGIRS): municipal planning instrument for the management of waste generated in the canton, prepared participatively by the municipality and other social actors of the canton. It defines the cantonal policy on the matter and guides municipal actions on the issue of waste.
Strategic points (Puntos estratégicos): sites selected for their geographical, logistical and administrative characteristics for the placement of specialized containers for the collection of recoverable waste.
PYMES: small and medium-sized enterprise.
Recycling (Reciclaje): transformation of solid waste through different valorization processes that allow restoring its economic and energy value, thus avoiding its final disposal, as long as this restoration implies a saving of energy and raw materials without harm to health and the environment.
Collection (Recolección): activity carried out for the custody of materials for their transport, valorization, treatment or final disposal.
Selective collection (Recolección selectiva): selected collection service for solid waste previously separated at source (separados en la fuente) that allows certain solid waste to be valorized.
Reduction (Reducción): activity that allows decreasing the amount of solid waste generated or disposed of by a person.
Residue (Residuo): solid, semi-solid, liquid or gas material, which its generator or possessor must and/or wishes to dispose of, and which can or must be valorized or treated responsibly, or failing that, be managed by adequate final disposal systems.
Sanitary landfill (Relleno sanitario): is the technique by which solid waste is deposited daily in duly conditioned cells, spread, arranged, compacted and covered. Its purpose is to prevent and avoid damage to health and the environment, especially from the contamination of water bodies, soils, the atmosphere and to the population by preventing the spread of arthropods, carrion birds and rodents.
Agroindustrial waste (Residuos agroindustriales): residual material from pesticides, fertilizers, containers, packaging, as well as other waste from agroindustry.
Biodegradable waste (Residuos biodegradables): solid waste or semi-solid, of animal or vegetable origin, that can be decomposed and recovered through composting.
Construction and demolition waste (Residuos de construcción y demolición): those solid waste generated in activities such as: construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, expansion and demolition of buildings, and urbanization works of any nature, whether urban or rural.
Garden waste (Residuos de jardín): is waste from the cleaning and trimming of gardens and green areas on private lots, including grass, leaves, stems and shrub branches. It does not include trunks with a diameter greater than 10 centimeters.
Hospital waste (Residuos hospitalarios): solid waste generated in hospitals, medical offices, dental offices, microbiological analysis laboratories, clinics, veterinary offices, among other places where health care is provided.
Non-recoverable waste (Residuos no aprovechables): waste that does not currently have use or recovery value in the country.
Solid waste (Residuos sólidos): any object or material in a solid state that is produced after the manufacture, transformation, or use of consumer goods and that is discarded after being used, commonly known as garbage.
Special management waste (Residuos de manejo especial): are those that, due to their composition, transportation needs, storage conditions, form of use or recovery value, or due to a combination of these, imply significant risks to health and systematic degradation of ecosystem quality, and therefore need to be removed from the normal waste stream.
Ordinary waste (Residuos ordinarios): waste of a domestic nature generated in homes and any other source, which presents compositions similar to those of homes. Special management and hazardous waste are excluded.
Hazardous waste (Residuos peligrosos): are those that, due to their chemical reactivity and their toxic, explosive, corrosive, radioactive, biological, bio-infectious and flammable characteristics, or that due to their exposure time may cause harm to health and the environment.
Sharp-cutting waste (Residuo punzo-cortante): any object with the capacity to penetrate and/or cut tissues, including: surgical medical instruments; laboratory articles, dental instruments, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes and all types of staples.
Bulky or non-traditional waste (Residuos voluminosos o no tradicionales): are those residual materials from their owners on a sporadic basis, having finished their useful life, which due to their size, volume and weight are not suitable for ordinary collection, such as mattresses, household appliances, furniture, among others.
Shared responsibility (Responsabilidad compartida): integrated waste management is a social responsibility that requires the joint, coordinated and differentiated participation of all producers, importers, distributors, consumers, waste managers; both public and private.
Extended Producer Responsibility (Responsabilidad Extendida del Productor): producers and importers have responsibility for the product throughout its entire life cycle, including the post-industrial and post-consumption phases.
Waste separation (Separación de residuos): procedure by which the mixing of different types of solid waste is avoided from the generation source to facilitate the recovery of recoverable materials and the final disposal of non-recoverable ones.
Separation at source (Separación en fuente): procedure by which recyclable solid waste is classified from the generation source according to its composition and prevented from mixing with other waste, to facilitate the recovery and recovery of recoverable materials and avoid its final disposal as waste.
Municipal collection system (Sistema de recolección municipal): service for transporting solid waste between primary or intermediate storage and composting plants or drop-off centers (centros de acopio) or recovery industries or technical deposits.
Treatment (Tratamiento): transformation of waste or specific parts into new products or the change of characteristics, such as recycling, composting, mechanical biological treatment, thermal treatment, among others.
User: has the category of user for the purposes of the provision of the services regulated herein, any individual and legal entity that is affected or benefited by the GIRS services.
Valorization: set of associated actions whose objective is to recover the value of waste so that it can be used again in production processes, as well as the protection of health and the environment.
Clandestine dump (Vertedero clandestino): It is a place where, without technical considerations and without any authorization from the competent authorities, is chosen by some user to deposit their waste.
Public road (Vía pública): It is 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.
OBLIGATIONS.