Helena Nageler-Petritz
Editor-in-Chief Waste Management World
The third day of the UN climate conference was quite busy for ISWA. The morning began with a panel discussion under the title “How should we reflect the waste sector in climate mitigation and adaptation?“.
Moderated by Anja Schwetje, Vice-Chair of the ISWA Working Group on Climate Change and Waste Management Aditi Maheshwari, Managing Director of Climate Action Implementation, C40 Cities, Dr Pradeep Monga, Senior Advisor and Policy Director of the World Biogas Association (WBA), Ana Catalina Suárez Peña, Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation, Global Foodbanking Network (GFN) Columbia, Keith James, Head of Policy and Insights, WRAP, UK, Adriana Gomez, Scholar, Energy, Climate, and Environment Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria, explored the waste sector’s role in preventing waste, utilizing organic materials, supporting recycling, and advancing bioeconomy efforts.
In the afternoon ISWA President and Chair of the Working Group on Landfills James Law, Dr Amani Maalouf, senior researcher, University of Oxford, UK, Peter Simoes, Chair of the ISWA Working Group on Climate Change and Waste Management and Prof Sahadat Hossain, Director of the Solid Waste Institute for Sustainability (SWIS) at the University of Texas, Arlington spoke about the impact of management choices on landfills and closing dumpsites. A lively crowd listened to the experts talking about the challenges in closing dumpsites, the lack of consistent waste statistics and data on the informal waste sector and the necessity to consider the socio-economic effects. Prof Hossain also presented the plastic road he is working on in his lab. He is turning waste plastic into road construction material.
No level playing field for the waste sector
Anja Schwetje also took part in the side event “Unlocking the potential for financing methane mitigation from solid waste for the NDCs and beyond” hosted by the World Biogas Association (WBA) and co-hosted by ISWA.
Martina Otto, Head of Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CACC) opened the event with a keynote on the importance and urgency of the Global Methane Pledge.
Charlotte Morton OBE, Chief Executive of the WBA argued that we live in a world where industries that cause harm don’t have to pay for it. They are much rather given enormous subsidies. “It’s hard for green industries to compete”, she said.
Anja Schwetje argued in much the same way: “There is no level playing field between the sectors but also not within the sector”, she said. “Dumping is cheap, for example. And as long as fossil fuels and chemical fertilizers are heavily subsidized there is no level playing field for biogas and organic fertilizer.”
Another problem is that the capital market likes big, huge projects. Waste management projects very often are small(-ish) so getting funding is hard.
But it’s not only the policy makers that lack the willingness to support green industries and the investors and banks, who are reluctant to fund sustainable projects. “We are ready to pay for our consumption but are we ready to pay for the waste we produce?”, she asked. The answer is more often a sounding no. Waste management needs to be cheap. We need a change of mindset.
Tackling a global problem on a global scale
Waste-related sessions and events are popping up all over the Blue and Green Zone. At the United Arab Emirates Pavilion, there was a well-attended presentation and discussion of the Waste to Zero Initiative, which was launched by Tadweer Group at last year’s COP28 in Dubai. The aim is to formalize waste management practices and engage global stakeholders to decarbonize the sector, create economic opportunities, and support climate change mitigation.
Her Highness Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, President and CEO of the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), stressed in her welcome remarks the importance of cross sectoral cooperation to create synergies to drive impactful change. “Adopting circular economy practices is not just a necessity but also an opportunity for communities and businesses”, her Highness said.
Ali AI Dhaheri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tadweer Group, and Her Excellency Alya Al Harmoodi, Assistant Undersecretary for the Ministry of Climate Change talked about the challenges the sector phases, the waste management initiatives launched in UAE and the importance of the Waste to Zero Initiative. “The sector is underrated and want to create a public platform for stakeholders”, Ali Al Dhagheri said.
It’s all about the money
How can we finance measures to mitigate climate change? That is the question stakeholders here at COP29 in Baku are trying to find an answer to. This is also a question that needs to be asked regarding waste management. As you can imagine, there is not one simple solution. Especially when a just transition is thrown into the mix.
As discussed in the session co-hosted by the World Biogas Association (WBA) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) on Wednesday, getting funding for waste management projects is tough. Many are small or medium-sized and therefore not seen as bankable. The capital market likes to make big bets.
“With waste and waste management, everybody says go big. But we say we think big in going small”, said Christina Jäger, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Yunus Environment Hub, at a session at ISWA’s Waste and Resource Pavilion on Thursday, where experts discussed the importance of social businesses as a driver for a just circular economy transition. Decentralised, creative solutions that take into consideration the local conditions, the panellists, including ISWA president James Law, Lara van Druten, CEO of The Waste Transformers, and Alex Wang, Managing Director of the Global Committee on Social Business for SDGs, agreed are very often what is needed to solve the waste problem. But, unfortunately, they are undervalued.
“Policymakers, investors and banks need to start to think creatively and see waste as a valuable resource”, Christina Jäger said. “With social businesses the chances of failing are high, but you need to try”, Lara van Druten added. Her company, The Waste Transformers, gives local entrepreneurs the tools and the business model to be able to make a living from treating waste. They cut out the cost of transportation and land by processing the waste on-site.
The lack of access to public funding and financing, as well as the necessity to create additional revenue from treating waste, was also discussed at the Global Methane Action Hub (GMH) Pavilion. Victor Argentino from Instituto Pólis and Fictor Ferdinand of YPBB (Yaksa Pelestari Bumi Berkelanjutan) presented community-based composting projects in Brazil and Indonesia, respectively. The additional revenue comes from selling compost as well as, in the case of the project in Indonesia, from selling the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly, which first help in the degradation process of the biowaste as a food product.
Get waste management in the NDCs
Money is not only needed to get projects off the ground but also to improve the conditions of the waste workers – both informal and formal. The first step would be to recognise what waste workers do, to create decent working conditions and formalise jobs, as Christina Jäger put it.
Waste workers also need a seat at the table, Soledad Vidal of the National Association of Waste Pickers of Chile (ANARCH), representing the 20 million waste pickers worldwide, said at the GMH Pavilion: “Waste pickers are providing a service but they are not valued. We have a voice and we finally are visible. Still, at this COP there is only one waste picker and that is me. That has to change.”
“Financing for waste management – in general – is too low,” said ISWA’s Peter Simoes, who took part in the discussion at the GMH Pavilion. “Nevertheless, organic waste management is crucial in reducing methane emissions. And if you spend one dollar on waste management, you get much more than in other sectors.” The technology is already there, the effect would be immediate.
An important step would be to include waste management in the National Determined Contributions (NDCs). “Then governments need to make sure there is funding”, Simoes argued.
This actually is one of the key messages that comes up in almost every discussion on waste and waste management at COP29 and as a call out to governments: Please incorporate waste management in the NDCs.
Led by Chile, many Latin American countries such as Mexico, Panama and Uruguay champion a call to action to do just that, as Andres Pirazzoli, CEO of Resilum, revealed during a session at the Action on Food Hub Pavilion. “For our countries, it’s not only about climate. Health, food security, odours, quality of life – those are important aspects as well!
As others fighting to put waste on the climate agenda he is elated about the COP29 Presidency’s Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste. “Politically speaking this is important. And those are low-hanging fruits: improvement of collection, composting – this is all not hard to do.” Food loss and waste are a key area to tackle since they make up 8-10% of global GHG emissions. But what is lacking is – of course – the funding.
“From ISWA’s side, we are first and foremost happy that waste finally is mentioned in a Presidency Declaration,” said Anja Schwetje, Vice-Chair of ISWA’s Working Group on Climate Change and Waste Management at the same event. “Moreover, it is good to see that the declaration not only focuses on the mitigation of methane but includes waste management, soil remediation and food loss. This allows us to draw the line between climate mitigation and food loss. It is an emphasis on prevention and treating biowaste.” ISWA hopes that many countries endorse it.
ISWAs African Partner’s ambitious projects
The NDCs were also a big topic at a session at the Waste and Resources Pavilion. The ISWA members from Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa highlighted their ambitions and achievements in the waste sector, leveraging climate finance mechanisms, such as those outlined in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, to support methane mitigation and the implementation of their NDCs. Present where Fanta Diop, Project portfolio manager, Sonaged SA, Senegal, Fiifi Boadi, Lead, Sustainability and Resilience Unit, Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ghana, and Co-Chair of the Biogas Subcommittee of Global Methane Initiative (GMI), Dr Glenn Gyimah, General Manager of Jospong Green Transition Office, Jospong Group of Companies / Zoomlion, Ghana and Kgauta Mokoena, Chief Director, Chemicals and Waste Policy Specialist Monitoring Services, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa.
From a gender-perspective it was encouraging to see how many women were in the audience, sharing their experiences and work in the waste sector.
Stay tuned for live updates from COP29, the Waste and Resources Pavilion and beyond!
