CDM Waste Projects Undermine Poor And Increase Emissions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CDM Waste Projects Undermine Poor And Increase Emissions
09 June 2009. Bonn, Germany: The Clean Development Mechanism’s waste projects
undermine the livelihoods of poor people and increase greenhouse gas
emissions, say a group of grassroots recyclers attending the United
Nations climate change negotiations.
“The CDM is funding incinerators and landfill gas projects that compete
with recycling for recyclable materials,” said Silvio Ruiz, who
represents the Colombia National Association of Recyclers, with 35,000
people and 105 grassroots organizations. “This competition puts at risk
the livelihoods of about 60 million economically vulnerable individuals
around the world who make a living from recycling.”
Baida Gakwad, of Kagad Kach Patra Kashtikari Panchayat, a wastepicker
union with 6,000 members in Pune, India, agrees. “Our members have lost
access to recyclables because of the CDM incinerator project. This
reduces the earnings of society’s poorest workers.”
The CDM’s projects are just as bad for the climate. “By replacing
recycling with incineration and landfilling, CDM projects are actually
increasing emissions,” said Neil Tangri of the Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives. “This is because recycling and composting are
25 times more effective at reducing emissions than waste-to-energy.”
Several networks representing hundreds of thousands of grassroots
recyclers are attending the UNFCCC meetings in Bonn. They are calling
for the CDM to stop approving waste-to-energy projects, which further
subsidize a polluting, socially destructive industry. Instead, climate
funds should support the informal recycling sector which would increase
employment while dramatically reducing emissions.
“Recycling and composting provide ten times more jobs per ton of waste
than landfills and incinerators do,” said Mr. Ruiz. “To reduce emissions
and protect livelihoods, grassroots recycling should be expanded and
protected, not displaced.”
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For more information, see the factsheet on wastepickers and climate change.
