Institutional Capacity and Governance in the Management of Illegal Landfills in Pudahuel Commune

Abstract

The present research aims to analyze the institutional capacity and governance of territorial actors in the management of illegal landfills in Pudahuel commune. The main cause of the problem is the profit of industrial and construction companies that use these illegal dumping sites, which are administered and organized by the “waste mafia”. The methodology is qualitative and is carried out through the analysis of semi-structured interviews. The results reveal that, despite the regulations and coordination spaces, the institutional capacity of the territorial actors is weak, making solutions excessively dependent on the political will of the moment. With regard to governance, it is limited and restricted mainly to State entities, excluding civil society and private actors. The study concludes that territorial actors are unable to manage the problem, requiring profound normative and structural transformations that include diversity of territorial actors, which is very difficult to achieve without political will and citizen mobilization.