The ever-increasing volume of waste
humans produce is one of the most pressing issues the world faces today.
Waste puts public health at risk, pollutes the environment, and its
disposal costs cities and countries a fortune they often can't afford. Our
global population of 7.3 billion people already struggles to deal with the 1.3
billion tons of municipal solid waste produced every year. More than half of
the world's population has no waste collection at all. Countries that do have
waste collection often cannot keep up with the challenges presented by a
growing number of people living in cities, and the new streams of hazardous
waste resulting from rapid industrialization. Becoming a more
resource efficient society is so important globally that countries have
formally pledged their commitment through the Paris agreement on climate
change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There are many
positive actions countries and cities can take to improve waste management
beyond collection and disposal. For example: reducing the amount of waste
they generate, reducing the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of by
reuse and recycling, or improving treatment and disposal using
environmental technologies. But what options would work best for your city or
country? To find the best solutions to this complex issue, a fundamental first
step is the development of a waste management strategy. In this video course
experts from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies Center
Collaborating with UN Environment on Environmental Technologies (IGES
CCET) will guide you through a step-by-step process to develop a waste
management strategy tailored to your city or country. The video is intended
for government officials, international development organizations, NGOs, and
research institutes trying to bring about positive change in the waste
management systems of cities and countries. The development of a waste
management strategy in Mandalay, Myanmar supported by IGES CCET will be used as a
case study to illustrate each step of the process. In most developing countries
and their cities waste management is limited to waste collection and disposal.
The aim is to collect as much waste as possible to keep streets and
neighborhoods clean. However, these countries and cities never
seem to have enough capacity and infrastructure to deal with the growing
amounts of waste. Even when collection keeps up with the
growing amount of waste we are just transferring the problem from the streets
to landfill sites or some other location. We propose a shift in the way we look at
this problem. We should see waste as a valuable resource. If recyclables are separated at home for instance they, can be sold --
generating income while keeping our environment clean. To best consider
solutions in the context of the waste management system you want to improve a fundamental first step is the development of a waste management strategy. The
strategy is a roadmap that will guide the team leading the process and the
many stakeholders involved to come up with appropriate solutions for the local
context. The waste management strategy development process consists of six
steps. Step One: Getting Started Each country or city will begin this
process from a different point but the essentials for everyone include a number
of elements: Identifying Key Leaders Identify and engage with the key
government agencies dealing with waste. A person or group in the political
leadership must be selected to be in charge, and given the responsibility for
driving the waste management strategy process. The organization that takes the
lead should have the political power and resources to provide focus and
follow-through; providing political commitment and unity of purpose.
Officials will need to be assigned to support this project and are likely to
need resources such as a project office, budget, and workforce. Ensuring
Coordination Mechanisms: Different aspects of waste management are often
the responsibility of various government agencies so it is important to have
internal coordination among all of them. This will ensure all relevant parties
are aligned with and actively supporting the development of this strategy.
Baseline and Gap Analysis: Determining the current situation and how well the
waste is being managed is central to developing a useful strategy. The
following steps are important for understanding the current local
situation and identifying the gaps that need to be addressed. Compile all waste-related data available including information on waste generation,
collection, transportation, disposal, waste classification and composition. If data is not available surveys and sample studies may be needed. You need to review
waste management policies currently in place so you understand the current
waste management system and how the new waste strategy is going to be interlinked with existing policies Develop an understanding of the
technical capacity and infrastructure available in the city or country. This
technical capacity can be related to waste separation, collection, recycling,
treatment, or disposal. Financial and Human Resources: Financial and human
resources will be needed to implement improved waste management practices so
develop an understanding of the resources available. How is waste
management currently funded? Are there cost recovery schemes in operation through
taxes or fees? Are the resources adequate? What technical skills are available?
Consider community awareness and interest. The strategy will call for
public participation in the planning and implementation of initiatives. People may
be requested to separate their waste or use special waste bins. For this reason
it is important to understand the level of awareness regarding waste management
among members of the public and private sectors and the community. In Mandalay IGES CCET in cooperation with the government of Myanmar published the
policy report: Waste Management in Myanmar providing the findings of the
situation and gap analysis. Supporting informed decision-making towards the
creation of the waste management strategy. Secure Political Agreement:
Create an initial agreement with relevant agencies showing the approval
and commitment of political leadership with the development of the waste
management strategy. At the city level, this would preferably be the mayor. In
the country case, it should be the relevant minister. In the case of Mandalay,
the IGES CCET team first gained the mayor's approval and then got the
support of the Mandalay City Development Committee.
In this way the development of the strategy came to be truly owned by the
local government agencies. Step 2: Engaging Stakeholders Identify All Interested Groups:
Governments will have a leading role in developing any
national waste management strategy, and agencies with sectoral responsibilities
like environment or health will play key roles. But apart from government agencies
within each country a great variety of organizations and groups play vital
roles in waste management activities and you must identify all these relevant
stakeholders. They fall into one of three categories: waste generators, service
providers, and supporting entities. Members of these categories can be found
in the community, private sector, NGOs, civil society, and academia. Identify
Roles for Stakeholders: Identifying the groups that are actively involved in
waste management, getting them involved in the discussion from the beginning, and
determining their roles is very important in the development of a sound
waste management strategy. Different stakeholders can support the initiative
in unique ways. NGOs for example often have experience working with communities
at the grassroots level, and can play an instrumental role in complementing the
waste management service provided by the government In the case of Mandalay there
are already a lot of informal waste recyclers collecting materials from
households and selling them for profit. We consider them to be very important
stakeholders, as they could support recycling activities in the future, so we
involve them in the development of the waste management strategy from the very
beginning with other stakeholders. Establish a Coordinating Committee: To
organize the involvement of all these stakeholders, a working committee should
be established to provide coordination of the project activities. The committee
should be formed by representatives from different stakeholder groups so that
they can all participate in the discussions throughout the strategy
development process. Step 3: Setting Parameters The general dimensions,
focus, and scope of the strategy should be decided early. The strategy should
focus on preventing the generation of waste and phasing out the use of
hazardous substances in the products, rather than simply on managing what is
generated. While some categories of waste may be allocated a higher priority
initially; any waste stream, even if it is of minor significance at present, will need
to be managed at some stage. Participants will need to come to a common agreement
on the overall vision and mission for this process. Based on this shared
understanding it is important to identify the major goals. Goals should be
accompanied by concrete targets and timetables to measure progress against.
in Mandalay's case the city waste In Mandalay's case, the city waste management strategy identifies six goals:
1. Accelerate waste collection and 3R activities 2. Stop open burning and disposal 3. Proper management of industrial and
other waste for proper management of 4. Proper Management of liquid waste 5. Awareness-raising and capacity building. 6. regular monitoring. The strategy process should highlight
the benefits of better waste management. These include waste reduction, lowering
operating costs, new economic opportunities, resource efficiency, poverty alleviation, reduced environmental impacts, and improved health. Secure
adequate finances and other resources for strategy development to ensure that
development does not stall. The capacities necessary to undertake the strategy
need to be considered. For instance, a country with limited capacities
available may choose to limit the scope in the initial stages. It is important to
have a clear timeline for strategy completion and adoption, and include
milestones over the term of two, five, and ten to twenty years. Policy Coherence: The potential interaction of waste management strategy with other policies need to be considered. Positive interactions are to be encouraged , and tensions and conflicts will need to be resolved. Consider whether the waste
management strategy would be linked to existing plans for municipal waste
management, public health, environment, or urban development. You must set
priorities as to how and when you deal with different kinds of waste. You may
have to urgently address waste streams that are especially problematic. Most
countries will have several waste management priorities which need urgent
attention, while other waste streams will be addressed later. Municipal solid waste
management will be a priority for any city because the provision of these
services is key to keeping the city operating.
In Mandalay's case, following the assessment, they prioritized the municipal
waste issue because it was within the mandate of the Cleansing Department -- the
leading agency in the development of waste management strategy. While they
concluded it was important to deal with hazardous and industrial waste, this
requires the cooperation of more governmental agencies; making
implementation more complicated so they decided to tackle this later. Step 4:
Formulating a Strategy Now that we have reached a common understanding of the parameters for the strategy, it is time to start drafting the actual strategy. It
is important to consider each issue identified in the previous step and what
actions can be taken to address it based on the goal set. How is the issue managed
at the present? What are the opportunities for waste prevention, materials
recovery, and recycling? What policy options are available to address this
issue? Identify Actions Choices about the management of each waste stream or issue should be carefully analyzed. The aim is not to manage waste better, or to ensure compliance with regulations, but rather to optimize the use of limited
material resources. This means avoiding the generation of waste at the source by
treating it as a resources waiting to be recovered and reused. Discussions should
be guided by the waste hierarchy which indicates an order of reference for
actions to reduce and manage waste. The hierarchy illustrates a prioritization
of action for waste management activities; giving top priority to
preventing the waste from being generated in the first place, followed by reduction
through means such as reuse and recycling, recovering of energy through waste
processing such as anaerobic digestion incineration and so on, and finally
disposal at last resort. Once action has been identified, an
action plan should be prepared for each waste stream or issue with accurate
budgets and the responsibilities for implementation clearly identified. Necessary policy instruments identified in these action plans will need to be
integrated in existing laws and regulations through appropriate
amendments or new laws and regulations introduced where relevant. We recommend
that you identify initial actions that can be easily implemented, so the
partners can start working together and achieve early results. Establish Targets
and Indicators In developing the action plan targets should be set for priority waste streams or other issues. For example:
Reduction of waste generation and of waste to be landfilled increased waste collection rate or coverage and increase
recycling rate, targets for moving from uncontrolled dumpsites to properly engineered landfills. These targets can be used to drive actions, create momentum, monitor progress, and alert those implementing the strategy to problems.
Targets should be Smart: Specific Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
In the case of Mandalay, stakeholders decided as a first goal the improvement
of the waste collection service in the city. Currently it covers 70% of the city.
The target is to provide 100% waste collection service in the city by 2030.
They also defined some mid-term target: 80% by 2020 and 90% by 2025. As you can
see targets are time-bound, they help monitor progress in waste management
step 5 Step 5: Sign-off and Agreement Once the actions have been drafted the strategy is practically complete. It
is important though that the strategy is officially endorsed by the public and
government officials. The strategy should be submitted to a full public
consultation process, in which the public is invited to provide feedback. In the
Mandalay case, after the strategy was completed they organized a large public
meeting to present the waste management strategy to various stakeholder groups
to listen to their concerns and achieve commitment to implementation. News of the strategy also appeared in the media. The strategy document was distributed among
people dealing with waste management. The final step in strategy development is
political sign-off and getting approval. This endorsement is crucial during
implementation to secure budget and staff allocated to improving waste
management. In the case of Mandalay, after the final workshop they submitted
a report to the City Development Committee for official approval. They
also got approval from the regional government to make it their legal
document for their next 10 years of waste
management activities. With final approval, the waste management strategy is completed. The strategy is then circulated among all stakeholders as a
printed and digital publication. The outcome of the process is a waste
management strategy consisting of a number of elements an ambitious overall
framework and goals for sound waste management in the city or country, a list
of priority waste streams and issues, an action plan for each waste stream or
issue comprising one or more targets and policy actions, cost estimates for each
action plan, clearly allocated responsibilities for implementing the
actions identified, plans for review including indicators to measure progress
and collection of appropriate data, and revision of the strategy on a regular
basis and as developments require. Step 6
Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation This step is the most commonly
overlooked, but it is crucial for success The waste management strategy should
be implemented as planned by the responsible parties. Monitoring of the
targets and indicators is crucial. Based on the result of this monitoring,
adjustments need to be made regularly to ensure the strategy is effectively
leading to their great goals. Mandalay City has implemented some pilot projects
for waste separation in households linking them with entities specializing
in recycling. Implementation has now moved to the improvement of the landfill,
and budget has been secured. This strategy has also promoted external
support from Japan to provide an anaerobic digester for managing organic
waste, as well as Asian Development Bank supporting improvements of waste
management in line with this strategy. Local partners like Mandalay University
and some community groups are taking their own initiative to implement some
of these activities, because they are all involved in the process they have a
sense of ownership. This sense of ownership is very important to ensure a
successful implementation. In this course you have learned how to
develop a waste management strategy , from the initial fact-finding steps to
implementation. Every community faces a different set of challenges, but these
steps should equip you to create and implement an effective strategy for
transforming waste from problem to opportunity. If you would like to learn
more about how to implement these steps where you are, or to reach out to the IGES
CCET team for more information, please visit our website where resources
related to this methodology are available.
