Green Business · San Diego, La Unión, Cartago

Daniela Campos: A Family Recycling Center Creating 18 Jobs in La Unión

Daniela Campos Guillén runs Centro de Acopio J y D, a recycling collection center in Santiago del Monte, San Diego de La Unión, that grew out of her grandfather's and father's work recovering waste and now employs 18 people. She told her family's story at La Nación's Foro Residuos Cero on June 26, 2026, and La Nación published her profile on July 3.

By Pura-Verde.com Editors · Published October 30, 2026
Original report: La Nación: La historia de Daniela Campos: estudió y compró casa gracias a la recolección de residuos (2026-07-03)

In the hills east of San José, a family business sorts what the rest of us throw away. Daniela Campos Guillén runs Centro de Acopio J y D in Santiago del Monte, in San Diego de La Unión, Cartago, a recycling collection center that now employs 18 people. Her family's path into the work started three generations ago, picking through waste at a dump, and it's paid for an education and a family home along the way.

A family story told at a waste forum

Campos shared her story on June 26, 2026, at the Foro Residuos Cero, a zero-waste forum organized by the newspaper La Nación at the Crowne Plaza Corobicí hotel in San José. A week later, La Nación published her profile, written by Irene Rodríguez, on July 3. Everything about her family below comes from that report and La Nación's forum coverage.

According to La Nación, her grandfather, Alfredo, began recovering solid waste and specialized in glass. Her father, Jairo, worked directly at an open dump, sorting materials by hand, and later got a site of his own. That work supported the family and paid for Daniela's studies. Her father has since died. The family went on to buy a house with income from recycling.

Her message, in the words La Nación used for its headline, was that what some people see as trash, her family sees as opportunity.

What Centro de Acopio J y D does

The center has been running for about 14 years. As La Nación described it, it:

• Sorts recyclable materials and compacts them to sell on to larger recyclers.
• Sends organic waste to a plant that turns it into compost.
• Recovers reusable items such as clothing.

Of its 18 workers, many are single mothers who coordinate with local municipalities to separate materials. The center offers them flexible schedules, and they're paid according to the material they sort.

The hard parts of the job

Campos was frank about the daily challenges. Some bags arrive in unsanitary condition, with bathroom waste or even dead animals mixed in, and dirty or mixed bags make the sorting slower and less safe. Some people assume a collection center has to take anything, in any state. And illegal dumps still exist where people scavenge to survive, a reminder of where her own family's work began.

Her request to households was simple: if you don't separate your waste yet, start now. Sorting at home makes the work at centers like hers cleaner and safer.

Why centers like this matter for Costa Rica

Costa Rica produces roughly 4,000 to 4,500 tons of solid waste a day, and about 60% of it could be handled as organic material, according to José Miguel Jiménez, executive president of the municipal development institute IFAM, in La Nación's forum coverage. Forum speakers also pointed to a familiar problem: the country's rules are solid on paper, but many households still don't separate waste, and official data is thin.

The legal framework is the Integrated Waste Management Law, No. 8839, approved in 2010. It sets an order of priorities: avoid waste first, then reduce, reuse, recover through recycling, treat, and only then dispose of what's left. It makes each municipality responsible for waste in its canton, tells local governments to promote small and medium recovery centers, and lets them partner with microbusinesses, cooperatives and women's groups. Collection businesses and grassroots recyclers must register with the Ministry of Health.

Small private centers like J y D sit right in the middle of that system, between households and municipal collection on one side and big recyclers and compost plants on the other. Our guide to recycling and composting in Costa Rica follows where sorted materials go next.

Recycling as part of a greener Costa Rica

Most visitors know Costa Rica for parks and wildlife, but how a country handles its trash shapes rivers, coasts and the animals that live there. Community efforts like this one sit alongside other local projects we cover, such as Curridabat's pocket forest and the Isla Venado fishers turning driftwood into crafts.

If you live in or visit the Central Valley, check your municipality's recycling schedule, rinse containers before dropping them off, and keep organics separate where your canton collects them. To cut waste before it starts, see our guide to zero-waste and refill shops.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Daniela Campos?

Daniela Campos Guillén owns Centro de Acopio J y D, a family recycling collection center in Santiago del Monte, San Diego de La Unión, Cartago. She spoke about her family's three generations in waste recovery at La Nación's Foro Residuos Cero in June 2026.

How many people work at Centro de Acopio J y D?

La Nación reported that the center employs 18 people, many of them single mothers who work flexible hours and are paid for the material they sort.

How much waste does Costa Rica produce?

Costa Rica generates about 4,000 to 4,500 tons of solid waste a day, and roughly 60% could be treated as organic material, according to IFAM's executive president, speaking in June 2026.

What law governs recycling in Costa Rica?

Law 8839, the Integrated Waste Management Law of 2010, sets the priority order of avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, treat and dispose, and makes municipalities responsible for waste in their cantons.

Sources and original reporting

1. La Nación: La historia de Daniela Campos: estudió y compró casa gracias a la recolección de residuos (2026-07-03)
2. La Nación: Foro Residuos Cero: 11 puntos clave (2026-06-28)
3. La Nación BrandVoice (sponsored): Foro Residuos Cero Costa Rica 2026 reunió (2026-07-03)
4. Ley para la Gestión Integral de Residuos N° 8839 (2010), text reproduced by Bufete de Costa Rica

We wrote this story from the published reports and official sources above. We didn't interview the people named unless the story says so.