The role of municipalities in guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment in urban waste management; Case study of Isfahan Municipality Waste Management Organization

The “1972 Stockholm Declaration” on the environment is marked as the beginning of the recognition of the right to a healthy environment in the international community. One of the important areas of guaranteeing this right is urban waste management, that is mostly the responsibility of municipalities, and the reason for this importance is the direct contact of urban people with waste in their daily lives and the threat to the environment and their health by waste; Therefore, the extents and necessities of guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment in urban waste management seems vital. This article reviews the reflection of this right in the constitutions of countries and its constitutionalizing in Iran, with a descriptive-analytical approach; and explains the duties of municipalities in guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment for citizens and residents with a focus on statutes. Municipalities, as institutions of local governance and non-governmental public institutions, have an essential and important role in guaranteeing this right in cities, and in particular in the field of municipal waste management. After reviewing the role of municipalities in terms of law and also in terms of the principles of citizenship rights, finally in a case study, the situation of Isfahan Municipal Waste Management Organization in guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment will be explained and discussed.