Peru's Center for Efficient Technology is proposing that the districts of the capital stop burning garbage or burying it in sanitary landfills, and instead treat the waste using techniques that do not emit methane, a gas that contributes to global warming. By doing so, Peru could sell emission reduction certificates under the Clean Development Mechanism established by the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, Luis Salomón, the center's project coordinator, told Tierramérica.

These certificates can be purchased by industrialized countries that have signed the Protocol, and thus partially meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Center for Efficient Technology is one of the 110 organizations in the international Cleaner Production Network, and is putting together a waste management plan under Clean Development Mechanism guidelines for the Lima municipality of Surco.

The Lima Metropolitan Council, meanwhile, is studying waste collection and treatment problems in the capital's 10 poorest districts.