Waste Management
We are in the midst of a chronic waste crisis. Despite renewed commitments by businesses and policymakers to support the transition to a circular economy, we are polluting our world at a rate higher than ever before. The circular economy demands recycled material, yet many cities struggle with overflowing landfills, informal dumping and burning of waste, and are unable to recover the valuable resources from their waste streams. Why is it that some cities’ efforts to increase recycling rates barely make a dent in waste flows, while others make steady, ultimately transformative progress towards their zero-waste vision? What makes the difference? IBN’s experience has shown that to be successful at scale, cities need to take an integrated, holistic approach to designing their waste management systems.
To support cities in making smart investments to divert their waste into the circular economy, IBN has defined six interdependent dimensions of a holistic integrated waste management system. This framework is intended to break down the ambiguity of the circular economy transition for the waste management and recycling space, as these are two of the circular economy domains over which a city has the greatest control.
The key for any city is to identify which specific elements are missing or need improvement to create cascading benefits for the rest of the system. Rather than isolated interventions that fail to drive impact, cities should look at the whole picture and solve for the gaps. Looking at case studies around the world, including IBN’s programs in Indonesia and Argentina, we found that cities are at different stages of maturity in their development of a successful circular waste management system, therefore requiring different pathways to achieve success. IBN’s framework can help cities to assess where their gaps are and support development of their individual journeys toward a zero-waste system.
Every city has a different starting point on the journey to excellence in waste management , but the Six Dimensions will be the same. In this publication, we explore the details of how various communities across the world have found effective ways to move forward on all Six Dimensions of Integrated Waste Management, as well as themes and best practices that emerge from their work. Their results are proof of what is possible for the role of waste management in the circular economy, even in difficult contexts with multiple constraints.
