Unlocking Local Food Systems’ Zero Waste Potential

A Success Story from the Markets of Warwick

Written by Lily Nobel

Over the last 3 years, the Warwick zero waste composting project has taken food waste from the Early Morning Market (EMM) in the Markets of Warwick (a neighborhood in Durban, South Africa) and transformed it into nutrient-rich compost at the Durban Botanic Gardens. As landfills in South Africa are rapidly filling up, this project showcases the power of utilizing small spaces and limited resources to reduce methane emissions from the waste sector — a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide. According to the UNEP’s Global Methane Assessment, reducing methane is a crucial step to keep global warming under 1.5°C, the threshold established by the Paris Agreement.

Currently, this project is being upscaled across the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and revolutionizing organic waste management in the area–unlocking resources through saving public funds and creating locally accessible jobs. Empowered by strong partnerships among local organizations, and fueled by effective data collection, this pilot successfully demonstrates the potential of decentralized, environmental justice-centered composting that not only brings climate benefits but also promotes social interests.

Team members from groundWork, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Horticulture Department, the eThekwini Municipality Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit (PRC), the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit (CSW), and the Business Support, Markets, Tourism and Agribusiness Unit (BSMTAU) pose together at the Durban Botanic Garden where the composting is done.
Collaboration at the Warwick Zero Waste Project. Photo credit: Lunga Benghu

Easily replicable decentralized composting model

In 2022, groundWork, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Horticulture Department, the eThekwini Municipality Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit (PRC), the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit (CSW), and the Business Support, Markets, Tourism and Agribusiness Unit (BSMTAU) partnered to launch a composting pilot project in the Durban Botanic Gardens’ permaculture site. It quickly evolved from composting a weekly 240 liter bin of food and vegetable waste to building 12 large compost windrows that are currently maintained to mature compost in a 3-month cycle.

Before zero waste: Organic waste from the EMM goes to the nearest landfills – Buffelsdraai and Illovu landfills – over 35 km away from the city. Photo credit: Lunga Benghu

As of March 2024, the pilot has diverted over 72 tonnes of organic waste from landfills by collecting approximately 1.5 tonnes of organic waste from the EMM weekly in two separate collection points and combining this with approximately 1 tonne of garden waste. Since July 2023, the project has supplied over 41 tonnes of compost to the city’s PRC Unit, free of charge, for use in parks and community gardens across the municipality. Samples of the compost undergo regular testing —such as full nutrient analysis, pot trails, and microbial analysis— to refine the ‘recipe’ and to ensure quality control. These tests demonstrate the high quality of the compost produced.

Cost-saving public funds for waste management

While many waste projects often seek investment from external actors, this project utilizes existing resources to unlock significant savings from public funds. By diverting organic waste from landfills, the city reduces the costs associated with landfilling and landfill airspace, which in Durban is estimated to be approximately R1,774 (93 USD) per tonne of waste. The Buffelsdraai and Illovu landfills, the only two operating landfills in Durban, are both located 35 kilometers or more from the city center, leading to high transportation costs. Findings from a cost-benefit analysis report on the project show how the various city departments have the potential to save money from reduced waste management costs and access to free compost. To date, the parks department alone has saved R23,600 (1,250 USD) from compost received through the project. As the project scales up, the savings can be used to sustainably cover the salary of the staff who manage the composters. Unlike waste incineration projects, which require huge capital and operational costs and lock cities in a put-or-pay scheme for decades, this composting model saves the city money, which is then reinvested to rapidly scale the composting model, leading to even bigger savings and opportunities to scale, in a virtuous circle. 

Job creation through zero waste

This environmental justice-centered model composting project improves social realities in the area by providing local jobs. On a tonne-for-tonne basis, composting can create three times as many jobs as landfill and incineration. In South Africa, 42.2% of people aged 15-34 years are neither employed, nor enrolled in formal education or training programs as of the last quarter of 2023. As this project is scaled up, composting is estimated to create four jobs per 400 tons of waste processed. The project also improves the working conditions and social protections of the informal market traders, waste collectors, and composters. Moreover, the Warwick zero waste project prioritizes the employment of people from the market and local communities, rather than using machines that often require external experts. In contrast, incineration creates the least amount of jobs and requires workers with highly specialized skills that are not accessible to the local population.

The delivery of Early Morning Market organics to the compost site and windrow preparations. Photo credit: Lunga Benghu

Waste methane reduction for South Africa

Meanwhile, source-separated organic collection with composting demonstrates significantly higher climate mitigation and adaptation benefits. Composting alone can prevent as much as 99% of methane emissions that would otherwise come from landfills. When the finished compost is utilized in place of synthetic fertilizer, further GHG emissions are saved by reducing emissions of nitrous oxide, not to mention avoiding the fossil fuel emissions from creating fertilizer. The application of compost to the soil also boosts flood and drought resistance and increases carbon sequestration capacity.

Although South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) provide neither specific targets nor roadmaps for the waste sector, the Warwick zero waste project paves a crucial pathway to help the country improve its national climate goals. By proving the efficacy of decentralized composting projects, the Warwick site can be used as a model for the nation and other countries on how to invest in empowering and inclusive organic management projects powered by local organizations and communities, thereby maximizing municipal resources and local knowledge.

Zero waste markets in Durban and beyond

Currently, the project team and city partners are working on expanding waste collection from the EMM to compost all 400 tonnes of waste generated by the market every year. Alongside this expansion, the team plans to replicate the model in a second market, the Bangladesh Market. In the longer term, the project team is targeting all nine fresh fruit and vegetable markets in Durban, proving the model’s feasibility and efficacy on a larger scale. The project has drawn an increasing interest among other municipalities in South Africa, and the team is actively engaging with government officials across the country and region.

map of markets in Durban, South Africa. Aside from The Early Morning Market where the project is currently ongoing, 8 other fresh produce markets are highlighted in the map. eThekwini municipal markets targeted for scale up and in relation to the Buffelsdraai landfill. We are currently at the Early Morning Market and will be moving to the Bangladesh Market this year. Credit: Ayanda Mnyandu
Growing the zero waste composting model in all the markets in Durban starting with Early Morning Market then moving on to Bangladesh Market this year. Credit: Ayanda Mnyandu

No to incineration, go for zero waste

The cost-saving model demonstrated by the Warwick zero waste project can be upscaled rapidly with the right flow of capacity and resource support. This also means ceasing support for inflexible, costly, and carbon-intensive infrastructures, particularly waste incineration. Policymakers and financiers must ensure that investment in organic waste management projects must be aligned with Environmental Justice principles and inclusive of local organizations and knowledge to build lasting environmental and societal impact. 

More Environmental Justice Stories

A significant step to comply with the Global Methane Pledge

Contributed by YPBB

In a significant and forward-thinking move, the West Java provincial government officially prohibited the disposal of organic waste in the Sarimukti landfill, located in the West Bandung Regency, effective January 1, 2024. This comes as a response to the  August 2023 Sarimukti landfill fires. The policy has the potential to divert 228,855 tons of organic waste per year from Bandung alone — preventing 575,428 tonnes CO2eq of methane emissions per year from the landfill. The West Java Provincial government has targeted a reduction of 754,154 tonnes CO2eq from all the landfills in West Java by 2030. This means that Bandung, the capital of the province, can contribute 75% of the set target.

Apart from reducing methane, this policy has the potential to contribute to environmental justice by significantly reducing river pollution caused by the landfill’s leachate, which is a water source for more than 6,000 people. If implemented in parallel with separate organic waste collection and treatment, cities could save significant costs, particularly on transportation, and it could also contribute to the local economy, creating 6 jobs per tonnes of waste managed, double the current system.

A fireman aims the water hose at a fire at a landfill in Sarimukti
The Sarimukti Landfill catches fire. source: Sindonews

Methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide, is an increasingly significant global concern to deliver climate action. According to the UNEP’s Global Methane Assessment, reducing methane is a crucial step to keep global warming under 1´5ºC, the threshold established by the Paris Agreement. Interestingly, the Climate Transparency Report (2022) highlights that Indonesia’s waste sector is the country’s largest methane emitter.

In 2023, Sarimukti landfill, a regional landfill serving four cities in West Java, was projected to surpass its capacity. Landfill fires got out of control – AZWI reported 38 landfill fire occurrences in 2023,  attributing methane from organic waste as its root cause. Responding to this critical situation, the Bandung Zero Waste Forum and grassroots groups, particularly Friends of The Earth Indonesia (WALHI) and Yaksa Pelestari Bumi Berkelanjutan (YPBB) —members of Alliance for Zero Waste Indonesia (AZWI)— initiated intensive advocacy efforts, targeting the ban of organic waste landfilling and incineration, emphasizing how the air pollution was affecting waste pickers and the community around the landfill. By August 2023, provincial and local governments declared a waste emergency status, and soon after, the organic waste ban to landfill was sealed.

A waste worker in Bandung, Indonesia collects segregated at-source waste, he is seen transferring organic waste from a resident's trash bin to his collection cart.
An informal waste collector conducts separate collection in a neighborhood in Bandung. source: YPBB

Incinerator Threat Looms

However, while this policy is a critical milestone for the Metro Bandung area, the provincial government is risking this achievement with a Waste-to-Energy incinerator project proposal in Legok Nangka, a newly built regional landfill to replace Sarimukti. In opposition, WALHI has continuously warned the government about the hidden risks of incineration, emphasizing the risk of methane-to-carbon swapping, the obstacle it will pose to cities to achieve its climate and waste reduction targets, and its adverse impacts to local communities. Accordingly, YPBB and Bandung Zero Waste Forum advocate for coherent policies through alternative policy scenarios that do not rely on incineration. 

Furthermore, the organic waste ban to landfill should be implemented carefully. The government must not allow pitfalls as experienced by the European “zero waste to landfill” policy, which has resulted in an excess of incineration capacity in this region. The policy should be more ambitious by including a mandatory source separation, separate collection, and treatment of organic waste, and a ban on landfilling ‘untreated organic waste’.

Three protesters wearing complete PPEs protest the incinerator plans in Indonesia. On the left, the protester holds a placard that says in Bahasa Indonesia "Bakar Sampah Masalah Datang", the middle one's placard reads "Incinerator: Fake Solutions!"; and the protester on the right holds a placard that can only be partially seen
Local groups protest incinerator plans in Indonesia. source: WALHI

Zero Waste is Already Happening

It is critical that the organic waste ban to landfill policy drives and scales up the existing zero waste models. Nine zero-waste city models throughout Indonesia (Bandung City, Bandung Regency, Cimahi, Sumedang, Purwakarta, Karawang, Gresik, Denpasar and Gianyar) organized by AZWI cover a population of more than 478,000 people with an average of 40% waste segregation compliance rate, up to an 88% in the best cases, which is by far the highest in the country. In total, these zero waste models have the potential to reduce organic waste sent to landfill by 6,500 tons per year. In a recent report, YPBB and GAIA found that a city-scale zero waste implementation in Bandung is four times more climate-effective than incineration. The success of these zero waste initiatives has relied on two strategic pillars:

  1. implementation of waste prevention measures, source separation and separate collection of various waste streams, including organic waste; and
  2. strong community engagement with a clear priority for inclusion of informal waste collectors. Ultimately, local stakeholders have played a pivotal role in implementing the zero waste models that started with minimal government support.
Nine members of AZWI and DLH sit around a concrete table at an open public space in Bandung.
Aliansi Zero Waste Indonesia (AZWI) and Dyan Prasetyangningtyas (DLH Kota Surabaya) conduct a stakeholders meeting in Bandung. source: YPBB

In conclusion,  the level of ambition required in achieving Indonesia’s climate commitments, and the political momentum in West Java should be harnessed to drive systemic change. This can happen now thanks to decades of collective and dedicated work of local groups like YPBB, Bandung Zero Waste Forum, WALHI, and AZWI. To make the most of this, governments and financial institutions must create the right flow of resources and capacity — aligned with Environmental Justice principles — making the inclusion of local organizations a clear priority for a lasting impact.

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México, noviembre 2020.

Ignorando las advertencias de expertos en materia de gestión de residuos, el Senado de la República de México aprobó el pasado mes de noviembre, por unanimidad, una modificación a la Ley General para la Prevención y Gestión Integral de los Residuos (LGPGIR) con el objetivo de incluir el coprocesamiento como un método aparte de la incineración, con lo que otorgan a la industria cementera el control total de la gestión de los residuos municipales.

“El coprocesamiento no genera empleos, causa grandes afectaciones ambientales y a la salud, y solo beneficia económicamente a las empresas que lo impulsan, particularmente las cementeras, es por ello que sorprende la rapidez con la que aprobaron la reforma, dado que la discusión y votación estaba prevista para el jueves 19, y se aprobó vía rápida el miércoles 18 cuando solo estaba programada su lectura. Esta decisión no toma en cuenta las alertas hechas por diversos expertos durante el parlamento abierto sobre co-procesamiento efectuado en octubre”, denunciaron diversas organizaciones mexicanas.

Al impulsar el co-procesamiento se está impulsando una visión de gestión de residuos que privilegia su incineración en lugar de apostar por otras opciones basadas en la jerarquía de gestión de residuos donde se privilegia en primer lugar evitar la generación de los mismos: diseñar los productos de modo que sean reutilizables o reciclables, poder reutilizarlos, remanufacturarlos, renovarlos para evitar que se conviertan en residuos, o en su defecto reciclarlos y compostarlos. La incineración/co-procesamiento no es una opción, dado que está detrás de grandes afectaciones medioambientales y para la salud humana.

Más información sobre esta campaña aquí

Para más información sobre cementeras y sus impactos en la región, revisar estos documentos:

Descarga aquí Cartografía de los residuos sólidos en Ecuador 2020

PRÓLOGO
El análisis desde la perspectiva de la ecología política y la geografía crítica en este valioso libro revela el problema de la basura como consecuencia de una crisis civilizatoria. El modelo lineal de “extracción–producción–distribución–consumo–eliminación” genera enormes basurales que se ubican de forma inconsulta en los llamados “territorios de sacrificio” que por lo general corresponden a comunidades empobrecidas en zonas rurales.

La cartografía de los residuos sólidos urbanos (RSU) propone un diagnóstico profundo para la comprensión estructural de este problema. La información ofrecida es sistemática y la más completa hasta el momento en Ecuador. Su presentación clara en base a mapas relacionando la información con los territorios en los que se producen los deshechos, genera una necesaria contextualización ya que los procesos locales socio–económicos y culturales determinan, a su vez, el origen de los problemas y sus posibles soluciones.

El análisis de los múltiples aspectos (económicos, sociales, ecológicos, de salud, políticos, de género, etc.) que interactúan e inciden en la generación de la basura permite captar la complejidad de la problemática de manera adecuada. Además, los autores tienen una atención especial por la situación precaria de las mujeres recicladoras que juegan un papel clave en la posible transición a metabolismos circulares, ya que la aún limitada recuperación actual de materiales (entre 6 y 8 %), es casi exclusivamente realizada por ellas.

Cualquier cambio de las políticas de manejo de RSU puede tener un gran impacto en las condiciones de vida —en un sentido positivo o negativo— de este grupo poblacional tan vulnerable y a la vez tan resiliente. Ojalá el hecho de que esta obra sea el resultado de una colaboración entre investigadores de la UASB, los autores del libro, y las instituciones públicas AME e INEC (que cumplen un papel principal en el manejo de la información sobre los desechos), contribuya a que su contenido sea estudiado y puesto en práctica por los actores pertinentes.

Marc Craps, PhD
Profesor en la KU Leuven (Bélgica)
Director internacional del proyecto
“Economía Circular Inclusiva”
del VLIR–UOS con la UASB
Leuven, noviembre de 2020

Equipo de Investigación:

  • María Fernanda Solíz Torres, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.
  • Juan Sebastián Durango Cordero, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.
  • José Luis Solano Peláez, Universidad Católica de Cuenca.
  • Milena Alía Yépez Fuentes, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.

(Este artículo es de autoría de Mariel Vilella, Directora de Gestión de Basura Cero Europa/GAIA, y fue publicado originalmente en inglés en el Huffiington Post.)

Terminar la vida enterrado bajo toneladas de basura en un vertedero es sólo uno de los riesgos mortales que enfrentan los recolectores de residuos, los que ganan la vida recuperando, clasificando, limpiando y vendiendo materiales reciclables.

Ocurrió en Addis Abeba el 18 de marzo, cuando el vertedero se derrumbó bajo los pies de la gente debido a que las obras de construcción se llevaban a cabo en el mismo relleno sin las medidas de seguridad adecuadas. El último recuento de muertos alcanza más de cien personas, pero muchos más aún podrían estar enterrados bajo las pilas de basura.

No es la primera vez que esto sucede. En 2000, el vertedero de Payatas en Filipinas colapsó en circunstancias similares matando a más de 500 personas. En 2005, 220 recicladores perdieron la vida cuando el vertedero de la ciudad de Guatemala se derrumbó.

No es que los deslizamientos de tierra sean la única amenaza que enfrentan los recolectores cuando trabajan en vertederos abiertos. No es de extrañar que los riesgos para la salud y el medio ambiente en esas circunstancias sean un hecho, ya que los recicladores están expuestos a contaminantes y materiales peligrosos, desde la materia fecal y los desechos médicos hasta humos tóxicos y productos químicos, fuego y como se ve, superficies que se deslizan y colapsan.

Pero quizás las amenazas políticas y sociales a las que se enfrentan los recolectores de basura muestran el lado más conmovedor de este drama humano. Los recolectores de residuos, si bien son el sistema de reciclaje de facto en muchos países en desarrollo, continúan siendo marginados, criminalizados y, en última instancia, desplazados por sistemas privatizados de gestión de residuos que dan prioridad a las grandes infraestructuras industriales y no a los sistemas locales y de escala humana.

La tragedia humana en Addis Abeba es sólo la punta del iceberg – el resultado final de una serie de decisiones políticas ineficientes  que han costado demasiadas vidas. Una señal clara de que algo necesita cambiar drásticamente.

En primer lugar, los recicladores no trabajan en los vertederos por elección, sino como resultado de sistemas fallidos de gestión de residuos, extrema pobreza y desigualdad. Cuando se les da el apoyo adecuado, ellos pueden ampliar sus actividades de recuperación de materiales y existen cientos de historias de colaboración exitosas entre cooperativas de recicladores e instituciones locales. Por mencionar sólo algunas:

  1. En Colombia, se han organizado 3.000 recicladores alrededor de la Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB) y la Asociación Nacional de Recicladores de Colombia (ANR), con 12.000 miembros. Una victoria histórica se produjo a finales de 2011, cuando los recicladores ganaron un fallo judicial que prohíbe los contratos de gestión de residuos que no ofrecen oportunidades de empleo para los recicladores informales. Era una afirmación muy necesaria de su derecho fundamental al trabajo y el reconocimiento del gobierno de la necesidad y los beneficios del reciclaje. Los recicladores son ahora parte interesada formalmente reconocida en la planificación de la gestión de residuos de Bogotá. Ellos trabajan con uniformes y tarjetas de identificación que reconocen su profesión. ARB opera dos centros de reciclaje, con planes para expandir sus operaciones a lo que será el mayor centro de reciclaje administrado por recicladores informales en América Latina.
  2. En la India, la cooperativa de casi 2.500 recicladores de Pune opera un servicio de recolección puerta a puerta que se ha integrado en el sistema de gestión de residuos de la ciudad y desvía suficientes residuos para evitar 640.000 toneladas anuales de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. En Mumbai, un modelo altamente descentralizado de gestión de residuos basado en las personas, ha demostrado su éxito y sus líderes son cada vez más reconocidos por su destacada contribución a la ciudad.
  3. Brasil es uno de los países más progresistas del mundo en la integración de recicladores en sistemas de gestión de residuos sólidos, y Belo Horizonte ha liderado el proceso. Hay ocho cooperativas y más de cuatrocientas filiales que ayudan a asegurar la relación entre los recicladores y los beneficios de sus municipios. Entre los métodos que sirven de pilares para un buen reciclaje y el aprovechamiento de las habilidades de los recolectores se encuentran la recolección puerta a puerta de materiales reciclables, sistemas de disposición y recolección en la acera.

Desafortunadamente, este no es el caso en Addis Abeba, pero estos ejemplos podrían inspirar cambios de transformación en la ciudad para desarrollar un sistema de gestión de residuos inclusivo y centrado en la comunidad.

En segundo lugar, la construcción de un incinerador de varios millones de dólares en el vertedero no favorecerá ese objetivo. La planta aún no está en funcionamiento, pero apunta a quemar el 80% de los residuos, por lo que sus operaciones vendrán a expensas del salario vital de los recicladores, que perderán su única fuente de ingresos.

Al igual que los vertederos, los incineradores son altamente propensos a incendios, accidentes y contaminación peligrosos para la salud humana. Si las autoridades proceden a la construcción de un incinerador o cualquier otra tecnología que intente manejar una cantidad cada vez mayor de residuos, se han perdido una lección importante de esta tragedia: la única manera de proteger la vida y la salud es reducir los residuos que generamos e invertir en estrategias de “Basura Cero”.

Por último,  el desarrollo del vertedero fue apoyado por los fondos franceses de desarrollo y  “Mecanismo de Desarrollo Limpio”, el mecanismo del mercado de carbono de la ONU. Una vez más,  los países desarrollados son responsables de inversiones contraproducentes en el sector de gestión de residuos del Sur Global. Otro ejemplo reciente levantó una  bandera roja respecto de los fondos de desarrollo alemanes promoviendo la incineración de residuos en hornos de cemento en México e India, entre otros países que recibieron fondos cuestionables.

En lugar de estas tecnologías – plagadas de fracasos en todo el mundo – estos fondos de desarrollo deberían haber sido invertidos en programas de educación y difusión para reciclaje y compostaje con la incorporación de recicladores que, dejados a su suerte, hoy están enterrados bajo los residuos que la ciudad intentó esconder.
Sin embargo, nunca es demasiado tarde para darle una oportunidad a la vida. Los residuos siguen siendo un problema importante en todo el mundo, pero en muchos lugares los líderes visionarios de la comunidad, los responsables políticos y los profesionales están mostrando soluciones en  camino a un futuro sostenible – uno con la aplicación de sistemas de basura cero, que incluyen una mejor y más digna seguridad para los recicladores.

Artículo original en inglés AQUÍ

On April 14, 2017, as Sri Lanka was celebrating local New Year’s Day, Sri Lankan lives were unnecessarily lost when a massive garbage dump collapsed, burying more than a hundred people alive and killing at least 28 so far. The death toll is expected to rise.

It is horrifying that those killed had to die like this. No one deserves to die like this. No one deserved to suffer as the residents of Meethotamulla had suffered when they were forced to live next to a garbage dump for years despite their strong opposition, and when their families and houses were buried with garbage they did not even make.

Stories of hundreds of people getting buried alive under a mountain of rubbish are not new. Just in March of this year, a landfill in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia collapsed, killing more than 115 people. At least 20 people suffered the same fate in 2016 in Guatemala; and in the Philippines in 2000, another garbage slide claimed more than 300 lives.

Indeed, we have heard one too many stories like this horrifying event in Sri Lanka. It is high time that we say, “Enough!” and make those responsible for the creation of these monstrous mountains be accountable.

Let us push harder for solutions to the world’s garbage woes that do not involve using communities as dumping grounds, especially communities that are often disenfranchised and voiceless. Zero Waste solutions which are safe and sustainable and create jobs and opportunities for many already exist. Let us push governments to do a better job of taking care of their citizenry and managing garbage problems better. Let us ensure that something like this never happens again.

Signed by:

Pratibha Sharma, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives India

Harshad Barde, KKPKP, India

Dr. Lubna Sarwath, Save Our Urban Lakes, India

Dunu Roy, Hazards Center Dehli

Shrada Shreyaya, Thanal, Kerala

Shibu Knair, Thanal, Kerala

CH Samuel Anyjumar, DBRC, India

Ransit Devra, Sukhdev Vihor, India

Rosham P. Rai, Zero Waste Himalayas

Dr. T Swaminathan

Sonia Mendoza, Mother Earth Foundation, Philippines

Merci Ferrer, Friends of the Environment Negros Oriental, Philippines

Jane Bremmer, National Toxics Network, Australia

S.M. Mohamed Idris, President, Consumers’ Association of Penang, Malaysia

Mageswari Sangaralingam, Research Officer, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth, Malaysia)

Dr Gopal Krishna of ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), New Delhi, India

Ram Charitra Sah, Executive Director, CEPHED, Nepal

Betty T. Cabazares, Kinaiyahan Foundation, Inc. Philippines

Fr. Max T. Abalos, SVD and Rhoy L. Dizon, ANCE, Inc. Philippines

Leah Primitiva G. Samaco-Paquiz, Representative, 16th Congress, ANG NARS Party-list, Philippines

Mi-Hwa KIM, Secretary General of Korea Zero Waste Movement Network, South Korea

GAIA, March 15th, 2017. More than 70 recyclers were killed and others are still missing after the collapse of tons of waste at the Koshe landfill of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last Saturday. The landfill has been receiving waste from the Ethiopian capital for more than 50 years — though for more than 7 years they have been aware about the inability of the landfill to continue operating.
This tragedy is the latest in a long list of accidents caused by the operation of landfills and incinerators, and a clear signal that something drastic needs to change. Currently, construction is underway for a waste burning incinerator. Yet like landfills, incinerators are highly prone to fires, accidents, and pollution that is hazardous to human health.  If authorities proceed with the construction of an incinerator or any other technology that tries to handle an ever-increasing amount of waste, they have missed an important lesson from this tragedy when it comes to waste: the only way to protect life and health is to reduce the waste we generate and invest in zero waste strategies.

In the Global South, recyclers are working to expand their materials recovery activities, and there are hundreds of successful collaborative stories between recyclers’ cooperatives and local institutions. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Addis Ababa.
Since identifying the problem of waste in the city, valuable years were lost during which zero waste systems could have been implemented, as well as programs that would have dignified and improved safety for recyclers. The pressure of local authorities to close the 50 year old landfill and build a multi-million waste-to-energy facility came at the expense of the living-wage of waste pickers, who lost their only income source when the incinerator began construction.

Negotiations that ended in the approval of an incinerator that has taken years to be built, which is not yet in operation, and aims to burn 80% of waste, at an investment cost of millions of dollars. Instead of these technologies — plagued by failures around the world — the city could be investing in education and diffusion programs for recycling and composting with the incorporation of recyclers who, left to their fate, today are buried under the waste the city tried to hide.

While the operation of advanced systems of material recovery managed by municipalities is common in industrialized countries, in the Global South most recyclers are self-employed, mainly in the informal economy, and recover reusable and recyclable items. In this way, recycling provides livelihoods to 15 million people worldwide – 1% of the population in the Global South.

Spanish version – Versión en Español

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