Chapultepec Launches Circular Economy Waste Program

The Government of Mexico City has launched Chapultepec Circular, a waste management model for the Bosque de Chapultepec that seeks to optimize waste separation, differentiated collection, and material recovery methods. The program will count with the support of major companies, including Grupo Bimbo, Dow, Tetra Pak, and Coca-Cola FEMSA, as well as civil society organizations and other stakeholders.

The program organizes waste generated in the park into three categories: organic, recyclable, and non-recyclable, with the objective of recovering materials that can return to production processes, facilitating the use of organic waste and reducing the volume sent for final disposal. The model also includes awareness and training activities for visitors, workers, merchants, and companies operating in or connected to the Bosque de Chapultepec. Workshops were held as part of the launch to promote proper waste separation and recovery, as well as changes in consumption and disposal habits.

“Commerce is making an extraordinary effort to ensure that visitors put their waste in the appropriate bin — recyclable, non-recyclable and organic; they are taking on the challenge with citizens. Chapultepec Circular is a pilot program, but in the long term it will represent a change in culture and paradigm, as well as an example worldwide. We are beginning a change,” says Natasha Uren, Executive Director, Bosque de Chapultepec. 

Companies Support Waste Recovery

Companies participating in Chapultepec Circular include Dow, Grupo Bimbo, and Tetra Pak, while United Way and the H2OLA initiative are also involved. Lilia Haua, Director, ProBosque de Chapultepec Trust, outlined some of the contributions from participating companies. Grupo Bimbo, for example, provided an electric cart to support waste transportation within the park. The company has maintained a relationship with the Bosque de Chapultepec since the early 2000s.

Coca-Cola FEMSA also joined Chapultepec sin Residuos (Chapultepec without Waste), a complementary initiative focused on improving the separation, recovery and recycling of materials in the park. The project includes a new collection center, periodic collection of recovered containers and environmental education activities.

The initiative will target the recovery of PET bottles, cans, Tetra Pak containers and other recyclable materials, with the goal of incorporating them into recovery and recycling chains, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills, and preventing recyclable materials from remaining in the environment.

Coca-Cola FEMSA’s participation includes equipment and supplies to support the operation of the new collection center, as well as a route for periodically collecting recovered bottles from the park and transporting them to facilities where they can be processed and recovered.

Under this initiative, recyclable materials are intended to be separated at the point of disposal and assigned a defined route for recovery, classification and transportation. The program also seeks to help visitors understand how to properly dispose of containers and other materials.

Circular Economy Framework

José Luis Samaniego, Deputy Minister of Sustainable Development and Circular Economy, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), says Mexico is moving away from a linear economic model based on extracting, using and discarding materials toward a circular model that keeps materials in use for as long as possible and returns them to the economy. He adds that the transition requires producers to participate in the recovery of goods after use and direct them toward recycling processes, alongside the development of productive infrastructure, institutions, regulations, and specialized value chains for different material categories.

Samaniego also highlights the General Law on Circular Economy, approved by Congress and enacted in January, as a framework for linking industry responsibility with the development of local and regional capacity to recover and transform materials. In this context, he described the Chapultepec model as an initiative with the potential to serve as a reference for other public spaces and urban forests.

Julia Álvarez, Minister of Environment of Mexico City, recognized the companies and organizations involved in developing the initiative, which took approximately one year to establish. “Behind initiatives such as this one, are the unsung heroes. Here are the companies that have believed for years in the governance model, which works and increasingly delivers more results to citizens,” she says.

The initiative concluded with a waste collection, separation and recovery activity in the First Section of the Bosque de Chapultepec, reinforcing the program’s focus on connecting public waste management with private-sector participation and recycling infrastructure.