Waste Management in Panama

Hello everyone,

As an expat in Panama, waste management can often pose challenges and requires an understanding of local standards and regulations. Understanding local practices is essential for environmental compliance and seamless integration into daily life.

Here are some points to share your experience:

How can you learn about waste management in Panama (types of waste collected, sorting, collection days, recycling, bulky items, etc.)? Do local authorities provide information on waste management to newcomers?

What are the main differences you've noticed compared to your home country in terms of waste management? How have you adapted?

Are there recycling programs, composting initiatives, or other eco-friendly alternatives to reduce waste in Panama? What personal initiatives can be implemented?

How are hazardous waste items such as batteries, household chemicals, or electronic equipment managed?

What actions are taken to encourage compliance with regulations (rewards, penalties, taxes, etc.)?

If you have any other relevant information to share about waste management, please do not hesitate!

Thank you for your contribution.

The Expat.com Team

Too bad i cannot post a picture ditectly. I try to upload it to gdrive and edit the post later, but sorting does exist here. In a minimal sense, because most garbage is being burned on the street, with small forest fires as a result. In Panama city, several sorting garbage bins are placed, sponsored by CocaColaPanama(and others) for example. I live in Praderas de San Lorenzo, and garbage is collected. But unsorted. We had a hill fire yesterday. It was barely out, when someone else started a new one, a couple hundered meter further. It rained molten plastic. I'm therefore in te process of starting a company, raise funds, find investors, and then sort and recycle this "garbage". Because its a sh*tload of resources being wasted. The plan is to (1) process plastics into (mainly) 3dprinting filaments, garbage bins;) and foldup crates. And (2), prosess glass, metals and plastics into pellets for re-use in production, and export. I met this policeman who got scammed in a "lets export garbage yo china" scam. He took out a loan, got screwed, and has to work 3jobs to pay of this loan. He will assist me with communications and logistics. My landlord(kindest lady on the face of the earth, will assist with the practical side of raising the company, taxes, and finding investors. But still. The three of us cant do it alone. If you are looking for an environmentally sound , profitable investment opportunity, please do contact me via this expat.com message board. If you wonder how we going to sort and process this precious resource called garbage, i beg you to surf to Preciousplastic dot com. Dave hakkens(dutch) and consorts, will explain allmost everything and supply downloadable files so you can do the same as us. Because. Only together, we can be strong.