Recycling center destroyed
and rural hopes dashed

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

A few months ago I had a chance to return to Costa Rica on vacation.  While traveling through the country my mother, who lives in Los Santos area, near Santa Maria, took me over to visit a place that filled her with pride and joy: a recycling center located in rural Costa Rica. 

Not just any recycling center, but one run by a friend of hers who was part of a group of women who — with a beat up pickup truck — went around local rural areas, some of them with no garbage pickup service, and collected cardboard, glass, cans, paper and plastic, took it to their small “center” where they processed it and sold it for a profit and a way to make a living.

I was told that for many of these women, who are single mothers, that was their only means of income, which made them doubly proud of not only what they were doing for the environment but also for the fact that they could work for a living.  This center, because of its benefit to the community of Los Santos, was allowed to operate on a piece of abandoned land owned by the local Municipality.

Sadly, that all changed a couple of weeks back.  I was told that the Municipality of Tarrazú, led by the mayor Ivan Saures, has decided to allocate the piece of land (which is not very big by the way) to another undisclosed project. He arbitrarily decided to tear down the recycling center with little or no advance notice, which led to all the collected materials, including paper and cardboard, to be exposed to the rain that hit the area last month. Almost everything that the women had collected but could not store in their own homes was ruined, especially all the cardboard and paper.

Having lived in Costa Rica for over 20 years, although not there now, I can only speculate that there are political or economic interests at play in this decision.  Regardless, that decision has eliminated jobs for this group of hardworking women, has made tons of recyclable waste now be part of a huge community dumpster near a forest reserve.

What is worse, this decision brought down years of education and work that these women had accomplished when they put the time and effort to educate people in the area about recycling by visiting schools, hosting community events and going to mostly abandoned areas where people burn or dump their trash in the rivers and explain the importance of recycling.

The Costa Rican government every day talks about striving to move up as country through education and sustainable development, but this will never happen if the government, central and local, regardless of political affiliation, does not encourage movements like those started by these women instead of crushing them whenever a political favor must be repaid.  I know it might sound naïve that I talk about the local municipality and hope that there be no corruption and under the table deals, I know this happens all the time.  Maybe all one could have hoped in this case was at least for a bit a common sense and humanity and the municipality didn’t even give the people of Tarrazú that.

Younger employees seek
more cross-cultural skills


Responding to globalization of the workplace, employees worldwide are developing a new suite of cross-cultural and language skills that will equip them to prosper in a more multinational environment, according to recent findings from a global workplace survey.

The survey, by Kelly Services, finds that individuals across all generations believe the experience they gain in a globally oriented environment will be critical to their careers.

Gen X (aged 30-47) reports the most direct experience within a global business environment, while Gen Y (aged 18-29) is driving the trend toward globalization, making international experience central to their job selection and promotion, according to the survey. Although baby boomers (aged 48-65) receive less formal support and training than their younger
colleagues, they still feel they can succeed in a globalized workplace.

The findings are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index, which obtained the views of approximately 90,000 people in 33 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Employees around the globe are recognizing how to thrive in a workplace with fewer international barriers, according to George Corona, Kelly Services executive vice president.

“Exposure to the international workplace is becoming the norm as more highly skilled people develop the capacity to export their talents wherever needed around the globe,” Corona said. “In this environment, the ability to work collaboratively with multinational teams is a critical requirement that we expect to become more commonplace.”

Although Gen X and baby boomers have more international experience, Gen Y more readily embraces that experience as a factor in determining future job choice and career progression. Gen Y also receives the bulk of employer-provided training.

“We are seeing a generation emerge that is very confident operating in a global environment," Corona said. "This will lead to many more transferrable skills, and a business dynamic where human capital can be deployed seamlessly to almost any location on short notice.