Summary.
The bill adds definitions of event, organizer, and Event Waste Management Plan (PGRE) to Law 33 of 2018. An event is a temporary public or private activity held indoors or outdoors with attendance of one hundred (100) or more people. The organizer is responsible for waste generated during setup, the event itself, and dismantling. The PGRE sets out measures for prevention, reduction, separation at source, temporary storage, separate collection, transport, and recovery.
Organizers would have to provide marked collection points with identified containers for plastic, metals, glass, and paper/cardboard. Where food or beverages are sold or consumed, organic waste must be separated for composting or another authorized form of recovery. Organizers may contract only waste managers, formalized community recyclers, or operating companies registered with the competent authority; these providers must certify receipt and recovery of the waste. Organizers must also post standardized signs, provide environmental guidance staff where most waste is generated, and clean and restore the event site.
The amendment to Article 17 requires commercial, industrial, and service sector waste generators, as well as event organizers, to assume responsibility for integrated management of their waste and keep an Integrated Waste Management Program up to date. An event organizer must submit a PGRE to obtain any applicable municipal, health, tourism, sanitation, or safety permit. The plan must estimate waste by type and specify collection point locations, separation methods, contracts with authorized managers, cleanup after the event, and environmental education and communication measures.
Within fifteen (15) calendar days after an event, its organizer must submit a closing waste management report to the competent authority. The report must state amounts collected by waste category and the destination of each waste stream, and include certificates of recovery, recycling, or final disposal and transport manifests where applicable. Omission, false reporting, or an incomplete submission would be subject to penalties under the law.
The bill empowers municipalities and the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (Autoridad de Aseo Urbano y Domiciliario) to impose written warnings, environmental community work, and fines according to the severity of an infringement. It addresses failures to separate waste or comply with an approved PGRE, mixing previously separated waste, holding mass events without an approved PGRE, illegal dumping, and abandoning waste at unauthorized sites. Penalties may also include immediate suspension of the event or disqualification from obtaining permits for up to two (2) years.
Municipalities may offer economic, tax, or administrative incentives to events that certify a waste diversion rate of at least sixty percent (60%). Organizers and competent authorities would have six (6) months from promulgation to adapt their rules, procedures, and permit systems. The bill amends and adds provisions to Law 33 of May 30, 2018, and provides for effect upon promulgation. Its provisions concern municipalities, the sanitation authority, event organizers, waste management services, and food and tourism activities associated with events.
What it proposes.
- Integrated waste management at mass attendance events.
- Waste management plans, separation at source, and closing reports.
- Municipal penalties and incentives concerning event waste.
Who it would affect.
- Organizers of public or private events attended by one hundred (100) or more people.
- Waste managers, formalized community recyclers, and operating companies.
- Municipalities and authorities responsible for permits and waste management.
Key points.
- Defines an event, its organizer, and the Event Waste Management Plan (PGRE).Art. 1
- Requires separation of recyclable and organic waste, use of registered waste managers, environmental guidance, and restoration of the site.Art. 2
- Requires submission of the PGRE to obtain applicable permits and specifies its minimum contents.Art. 3
- Requires a closing report within fifteen (15) calendar days after the event and provides for penalties if it is omitted, false, or incomplete.Art. 4
- Empowers municipalities and the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (Autoridad de Aseo Urbano y Domiciliario) to penalize infringements, potentially suspending an event or barring access to permits.Art. 5
- Allows municipal incentives for events that certify a waste diversion rate of at least sixty percent (60%).Art. 6
- Allows six (6) months from promulgation to adapt rules, procedures, and permit systems.Art. 7