A Costa Rican Appliance Chain Collected 495 Tonnes of E-Waste and Turned Bottle Caps into Park Walkways

Gollo Recicla, run by the retailer Gollo (Grupo Unicomer), has accepted electronic and electrical waste free of charge in its Costa Rican stores since 2012. In 2025 it recovered 495 tonnes of e-waste, 39% more than the 354 tonnes of 2024, and runs collection campaigns with municipalities in 10 cantons, from Talamanca to San Vito. Waste is passed to Ministry of Health-authorised companies that dismantle it and recover materials. The program also gathers plastic bottle caps, 824 kg in 2025, which become recycled-plastic walkways in national parks including La Amistad and Cahuita.