Month: August 2023

Autopista Central and the Food Network are providing basic necessities in an initiative that combines positive social and environmental impacts.

Ana del Carmen Lagos, 71 years old, could hardly believe it when she was contacted last November to be part of a new initiative to be launched in the Municipality of San Bernardo. She and another 2,500 senior citizens in the municipality would benefit from the delivery of goods and toiletries.

“Having been considered for this aid is a blessing for us all. There are many senior citizens who are alone, whose income does not suffice and they don’t have enough to eat. The ‘Social Pantry’ arrived to support and pamper us.  We are very grateful for that,” she said.

For Autopista Central of the VíasChile Group, participating in this project from its start in December 2021 has been a hugely gratifying experience. This was noted by Andrés Barberis, its chief executive officer.

He said “the opportunity to be a part of the first Social Pantry in the country is a reason for pride for all at Autopista Central, one of the concessions managed by the VíasChile Group. In recent years, we have reinforced our commitment to communities and to the territories where we operate and we have accepted challenges and become involved in new social aid projects.  Organizations like the Food Network are able to create ties for consistent aid, contributing to a more integrated and active society, a purpose that has united us in the alliance for the senior citizens of San Bernardo, one of the municipalities where we have operations.

Contribution to the Environment

Added to the social impact of this initiative is an important environmental contribution. Since the Social Pantry began operation, more than 600 tons of food and basic necessities have been furnished. This means that 72 kilos of carbon dioxide emissions have been avoided per month per each of the 2,500 beneficiaries, which also represents a major contribution to care for the environment.

To María Pía Tejos, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Manager of VíasChile, “this is an initiative of great social and environmental impact that falls within the corporate policies of VíasChile of contributing to creating a more sustainable society. On the one hand, it means a concrete contribution to improving the quality of life of people who really need it, in addition to supporting a circular economy and avoiding food waste.”

For María José Vergara, Social Management Manager of the Food Network, “this initiative allows senior citizens to redistribute their income to focus on medication, health and utilities, among other aspects. Many people must decide between buying food or medicine. Now, the beneficiaries might not have to make that difficult choice.”

The initiative is led by the Food Network and Autopista Central of the VíasChile Group. The community space targets senior citizens who are at risk, receive the basic solidary old-age pension, whose individual income is less than the minimum wage and who live in the municipality of San Bernardo.

A total of two thousand five hundred senior citizens in San Bernardo are receiving food and toiletries from the first “Social Pantry,” a social initiative led by the Food Network, the largest food bank in Chile, and by Autopista Central of the VíasChile Group.

This project, a pioneer project in Latin America, is of environmental benefit to the planet, in addition to being a contribution to society. Since it began to operate last December, it has delivered more than 380 tons of food, helping avoid the emission of 72 kilos of CO₂ gas per month per beneficiary, or a total of 2,340 tons of CO₂ a year.

This initiative has a great social and environmental impact. The Pantry receives products rescued and then donated by members of the Food Network, which avoids emissions caused by food waste.

The community space targets senior citizens who are at risk, receive the basic solidary old-age pension, whose individual income is less than the minimum wage and who live in the municipality of San Bernardo.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The beneficiaries of the “Social Pantry” can pick up products in person once a week. Each registered beneficiary has a certain day and time to go. The Pantry has a delivery room in which the gondolas specify the number of products that can be taken.

Individuals can choose which products they want to take. No money is needed in the Social Pantry system. After one semester of operation, the “Social Pantry” has been of fundamental support to senior citizens considering the present economic situation in the country and the world in general, especially the increase in the cost of living.

The “Social Pantry” is located at Sánchez 116, municipality of San Bernardo.

Autopista Central of the VíasChile Group was the first toll road in America to receive ISO 39001 certification in 2015.

During the nearly two decades that it has been in the country, its goal has always been to provide service of excellence to users and contribute to the country’s sustainable development. In that framework, Road Safety is one of the fundamental pillars inspiring service in all projects managed by the Group.

Autopista Central has been a national and international benchmark. It has assumed that position with full responsibility for Road Safety, which is considered non-negotiable in respect of our customers. For that reason, we are governed by the highest international standards on the subject.

In 2018, we certified all of the toll roads operated by the Group at that time: Rutas del Pacífico, Autopista del Sol, Autopista Los Libertadores, Autopistas Los Andes and Rutas del Elqui.

Road Safety is everyone’s responsibility and consistent with that commitment, we are looking every day for opportunities to improve and surpass local requirements.

The following are of note among the concrete measures adopted by the VíasChile Group in this fundamental respect:

Implementation of a Strategic Road Safety Plan that sets down the Company’s plan on a series of actions to create a culture of safety and endeavor to reduce accidents on our toll roads that lead to injury and death. This is accomplished by data analysis, training, campaigns and courses, among other measures.

Impact buffers are being used with repair trucks to separate work zones on toll roads and contain any potential impacts by vehicles in those zones, which protects both our customers and our employees.

Additional emergency care equipment has been installed for the Lo Prado and Zapata Tunnels on Highway 68 and the Chacabuco Tunnel on the Los Libertadores Toll Road, such as rescue cars and motorcycles equipped with fire extinguishers, to improve the safety of those tunnels. The motorcycles can get to event sites quickly and agilely.  Closing barriers were also installed at the entrances to tunnels in order to keep vehicles from entering during an emergency to protect their integrity and also make the assistance inside the tunnel efficient. Lastly, variable message panels were installed that provide updates, and improvements will soon be made to the ventilation systems inside tunnels for emergencies.

After an open meeting that resulted in 6 teams, a specialized panel chose the solution that best suited the need to intervene in a hundred small illegal dumps found in the municipality.

The Renca Microdump Challenge arose as part of a public-private effort promoted by the Municipality of Renca, through the Territorial Round Table of Companies in the Pepper-Lo Ruiz macrozone, in which 12 companies in the zone, the La Fábrica de Renca Association and the Do! Smart City Foundation participated.

“Of the 142 points identified as microdumps and illegal dumps in the Municipality, each year an average of 26,500 tons of waste are removed by the Municipality at an annual average cost of CLP$550 million. The persistent problem of microdumps and dumps in the Municipality has become an institutional issue that has required efforts and coordination among several offices of the Municipality in order to be able to address it,” said Claudio Castro, Mayor of Renca.

The contest, in which close to 50 ideas were received from local inhabitants, students and entrepreneurs in the Regions of Arica, Valparaíso, O’Higgins and Metropolitan, was intended to create a collaborative process to develop ideas to address the problem of microdumps in the municipality. 6 teams were set up on the basis of those ideas that participated in a 10-hour symposium at the Renca Innovation Center, accompanied by mentors and experts, to explore the problem, improve the idea and prepare the pitch to a prominent panel that included Gloria Moya, Director of the Metropolitan Region Office of the Production Development Association (abbreviated as CORFO in Spanish), Mauricio Fabry, Environmental Coordinator of the Metropolitan Regional Administration (abbreviated as GORE in Spanish),  and Macarena Olivares, Director of the Office of the Environment, Garbage Collection and Ornamentation (abbreviated as DIMAO in Spanish), of the Municipality of Renca.

The winning idea, called Re-recupera, proposes creating a channel to facilitate receiving electronic devices and household appliances from inhabitants in the municipality of Renca so that these objects do not end up in microdumps or illegal dumps.

The winning team, comprised of Gabriela Poblete, Yessenia Soto and Julio Zuñiga, will receive CLP$5,000,000 to develop and create a pilot project of their idea with users in the municipality. The municipality and Corporación La Fábrica will accompany the team in the iterative process of developing their proposal and starting up the pilot project.

Innova UTEM, Inacap, Aceros AZA and VíasChile collaborated with this initiative since it is a good opportunity to implement medium- and long-term strategies different from those already developed, in the goal of overcoming this problem once and for all by means of a multi-dimensional, integral and sustainable solution.

María Pia Tejos, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Manager of the ViasChile Group, said: “We are proud to have been a part of this initiative. We support projects that look for sustainable and innovative solutions in order to contribute to preventing and reducing microdumps in the municipality of Renca and the country. In addition to actively listening, this public-private alliance has been key to progressing in materializing the Microdump Challenge that arose from active participation on the territorial environmental task force. As Renca inhabitants, this is an instance that unites us and enables us to work together on potential long-term solutions to eradicate focal points of microdumps that affect the wellbeing of residents in the municipality. Congratulations to all the teams that participated and many thanks to each of those who are committed to making cities sustainable.”

Along these same lines, Paola Grandela, Sustainability Manager of Aceros AZA, added that “it is a pleasure to be a part of an initiative that aims to improve our spaces and transform the quality of life of hundreds of families.  In addition to being one more inhabitant of this community, we are a company that produces steel from recycling, so being here makes perfect sense to us. We are also committed to being an active agent of change in the problems affecting the sector’s inhabitants by helping to reduce other risk factors.  There can be no doubt that a cleaner municipality is a safer municipality.”

As with other places in Chile, Renca has had to deal with microdumps and illegal dumps in its territory that directly affect the quality of life of the community and ecosystems. Despite efforts by City Hall, a large number of unauthorized vehicles have been seen to take advantage of the connectivity offered by the urban highways surrounding Renca to dump waste in vacant lots or directly onto public property.

This initiative is confirmation of the commitment of the VíasChile Group to sustainability and to improving the quality of life of people.

The first Social Pantry in Chile and in Latin America was inaugurated in San Bernardo in December 2021, together with the Food Network and Luksic Foundation, which will be of benefit to the nutrition and health of senior citizens because it will supply food and basic necessities as well as a community space where they can receive assistance and be accompanied.

This Social Pantry not only has an impact on the health and economy of the beneficiaries; it also manages the food donated by members of the Food Network.

To date, this project has helped satisfy the food needs of 2,500 senior citizens. It has also had an impact on social problems inherent to their living situation, such as safety and health issues.

How the Project Started

Through Autopista Central, VíasChile helped fund the construction and part of the operating costs for the first three years of the Pantry, which operates in San Bernardo. This is part of its policy of support to communities that the company is implementing in some of the municipalities where its toll roads are located.

ViasChile and the Food Network surveyed the senior citizens in the municipality who were unable to meet their daily basic food needs. Through the Social Pantry, the beneficiaries can pick up as many as 8 kilos of food and basic necessities once a week without any money changing hands.  Each person registered has a certain day and time to go pick up the products and the gondolas at the Pantry indicate the number of products they can take.

Andrés Barberis, chief executive officer of VíasChile, highlights this pioneer initiative that is being implemented at a difficult time.  He asserts that “we are experiencing difficult times for several reasons, and we currently see how poverty in our country has unfortunately risen.  That is why through Autopista Central, we are committed to the Food Network to collaborate with this initiative that has an immediate impact on people. This is the first of several social actions that incorporate the circular economy that we want to develop in the long term and hopefully implement in more municipalities in the nation.”

The project is supported by the contribution from the Food Network, the first food bank in Chile, which constitutes a sustainable alternative to avoid the destruction of food and basic necessities.

Of benefit to people and the environment

Recovering food and toiletries, among other products, keeps them from becoming waste, and that has a positive environmental impact because it reduces greenhouse gas emissions caused by their destruction.

According to monthly measurements by Greenlab, part of the Office of Scientific and Technological Research of the Catholic University of Chile (abbreviated as Dictuc in Spanish), it is estimated that the recovery of products by the Food Network means that 78 kilos of CO₂e are avoided monthly per beneficiary. This signifies that the emission of 2,340 tons of CO₂ is avoided annually by delivering products to 2,500 senior citizens.

These pick-ups will be used on the concessioned toll roads as a way to increase road safety and minimize environmental impacts.

In order to foster the use of clean energy and reduce CO₂ emissions into the environment, VíasChile added 30 100% electric pick-ups, assigned to maintenance and conservation of Autopista Central, Rutas del Pacífico, Autopista Los Libertadores and Autopista Los Andes.

The Company is committed to a more sustainable mobility system and with this change, the carbon footprint of VíasChile will be reduced by 188 tons of CO₂, equal to the emissions that would be captured by 1,100 trees in a year.

These new vehicles, in operation since August 2022, do not emit any contaminating gases while they are running. They are silent, which avoids noise pollution, they consume less energy, and they reduce the handling of hazardous waste.

According to María Pía Tejos, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Manager of VíasChile, “our goal is to continue operating the tolls road of the VíasChile Group from an increasingly more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach. So, we are orienting all our actions to reducing the impact on the natural environmental, especially on the communities where we operate.”

In this respect, with the change to electric pick-ups, VíasChile is meeting three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and helping to combat climate change and its adverse effects because it is caring for air quality, managing waste, and making the use of natural resources more efficient.