Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Throughout the World

Chapter 8

From Garbage to Gold—Peru

Albina Ruiz is building a community-based solid waste management system that plays an increasingly important role in improving sanitation and health conditions in Peru and other countries in Latin America. Every stage of the waste management cycle creates a network of employment and income-generating enterprises that integrates business and social value throughout the entire process.

Every time I go to a waste dump, whether it is in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, or India, my heart breaks when I see human beings like you and me, who are working, many accompanied by their children, in deplorable risky conditions. Their working and living conditions encourage me to work tirelessly and try to change this ...