Project Description
The main objective of the project activity is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the sanitary landfill of the city of Salta, Argentina. The project activity involves the capture of the landfill gas generated at Salta´s municipal landfill and the destruction of the methane contained in the landfill gas flaring. The project will displace 210,900 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) into the atmosphere over 21 years, starting in 2008. The project activity will generate revenues through the selling of certified emission reductions in the Clean Development Mechanism. Revenue will be administered by the Municipality of Salta to improve landfill operation and overall waste management for the city, as well as toward the community benefits plan.

Current Context
During several conversations with community leaders, the Municipality of Salta identified several basic needs that were considered for the development of the community benefits plan:

• Inadequate sanitary conditions at the landfill
• Lack of safety gear and clothes
• Lack of appropriate working tools
• Lack of appropriate space to classify paper and to protect workers and material from bad weather
• Lack of training in safety and sanitary measures that expose workers to health risks
• Lack of organization
• Inadequate maintenance of existing working equipment (that is, paper compactor).

These problems are reflected in the loss of quality of the recovered material, thus diminishing the returns, and in the frequent health problems among the group members that prevent them from going to work.

Community Benefits
A community benefits plan additional to the main project was prepared at the initiative of the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF). The objective of the plan is to improve the infrastructure and working conditions for separating, classifying, storing, and recycling inorganic components of municipal waste before it is taken to the landfill. Enhanced solid waste management will improve the environmental conditions of the areas surrounding the landfill site, where several thousand people live in slums.

Time Frame: Implementation starts 2008

Community Benefits Budget: $60,000

Monitoring Plan: The monitoring of the implementation of the community benefits plan is based on information provided by the Municipality of Salta and verified by an independent verifier. The independent verifier—a member of a local NGO to be designated—will report progress of the implementation of the Community Benefit Plan. Quarterly reports from the municipality and the independent verifier will be submitted to Carbon Finance Unit contact persons. The Carbon Finance Unit also included the verification of the plan in the emissions reduction verification process carried out by the municipality.

Contribution of Project Activity to Sustainable Development:
The proposed project activity will also contribute to the sustainable development of the city of Salta. In fact, the development of this project under the CDM framework implies for the Municipality of Salta a commitment to improve the current solid waste management and sustain it during the 21-year lifetime of the project. In turn, an enhanced solid waste management will bring an improvement in the environmental conditions of the surrounding areas of the landfill site -where several thousands people live in slums- due to decreased emissions of GHG and other harmful components in the LFG.

In addition, the proposed project activity will contribute to implementing a new technology, improving the demand of local labor, and encouraging the local supply of equipment and other components for the construction and operation of the LFG capture plant. These activities will build local capacity and therefore increase the possibility to replicate the project activity throughout the Northwest region of the country.

The Municipality of Salta owns the landfill that is currently operated by a private concessionaire, therefore any revenue coming from the exploitation of the landfill gas, including revenues coming from CERs sales, will be administered by the Municipality of Salta to improve landfill operation and the overall waste management in the city. For the construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed LFG recovery plant, the Municipality of Salta will call for international bids.

In addition, Municipality of Salta will allocate part of those revenues in a Community Benefit Plan (CBP). The objective of the CBP is to improve the infrastructure and working conditions for separating, classifying, storing and recycling inorganic components of municipal waste before it is landfilled. Currently this work is being done by approximately 100 people working in an informal fashion with no infrastructure or proper equipment.

Overall, the proposed activity will help to consolidate a better practice for municipal solid waste management and landfill gas recovery in Argentina where open dumps are still the common practice throughout the country. Project activities will also demonstrate the advantage of the GHG emission market and Kyoto mechanisms to finance new technologies and management in the public sector that may contribute to a sustainable development.