The Legal Regime of Areas Degraded by Construction and Demolition Waste in Peru

Abstract

The inadequate management of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) constitutes one of the most pressing environmental challenges in Peru's urban landscape. Its clandestine disposal on public domain assets has led to the proliferation of informal dumpsites that, from the standpoint of contemporary environmental doctrine, acquire the legal nature of environmental liabilities and, accordingly, the status of degraded areas subject to mandatory remediation regimes. This article critically analyzes the normative and institutional framework governing the treatment of such areas in Peru, identifying the operational gaps that prevent effective environmental enforcement. To this end, the legal nature of CDW is defined pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 1278 and Supreme Decree No. 002-2022-VIVIENDA; the applicable liability regimes and their limitations are examined; and the structural failures that generate so-called orphan damages—environmental liabilities whose remediation costs fall unjustly on the public treasury—are diagnosed. In response to these deficiencies, the article proposes the operationalization of the Extended Producer Responsibility principle within the construction sector, alongside the requirement of preventive financial guarantees tied to the granting of building permits, drawing on the Spanish Royal Decree No. 105/2008 as a comparative reference. The study concludes that only through robust environmental governance, oriented toward prevention and the effective internalization of environmental costs, will it be possible to guarantee the material effectiveness of the fundamental right to a balanced environment enshrined in the Political Constitution of Peru.