A new diagnostic model to understand the root causes of failing waste collection in developing countries, with example applications in Latin America

Developing countries around the world are challenged to provide their citizens with access to waste collection. But performances are poor and services are mostly limited to the urban areas. So far, little is known about the root causes of this deficient achievement. This Short Communication summarises the results of a research programme that used system dynamics to analyse the problem in a retrospective and prospective manner. The programme has resulted in a scientifically grounded and tested diagnostic model that enables both scientists and practitioners to dig below the symptoms of the problem, to improve understanding of what is actually going on, to make predictions under different scenario's and to test interventions. The model resulting from this research clearly shows how two clusters of societal processes compete. One cluster holds the processes on economy, quality of government, national revenues and available budgets. The other cluster comprises the processes that use these budgets. For the Latin American countries, lack of money is not the key cause. The problem must be sought in the close interaction between quality of government and the efficiency of collection services. Specific interventions are suggested for the case of Bolivia.