Ecologists applaud the municipality of Ñuñoa, one of the 33 communities of the Santiago metropolitan area, for launching an unprecedented waste-recycling program. Ñuñoa this month began distributing bags to all households in which residents separate their paper, glass, plastic, cardboard, aluminum and other metal waste.

The bags are picked up and taken to a recycling center built by the municipality.

The benefits of the program include savings in paying for deposits of solid waste and revenues from the recycled product, as well as the creation of jobs, says Luis Mariano Rendón, coordinator of Chile's 'Acción Ecológica' movement.