Municipal Strategies for Organic Waste: A Toolkit to Cut Methane Emissions is the 1st of the GAIA Technical Guidance Series for Policymakers and Financiers on Fast Action on Waste and Methane. Following commitments within the Global Methane Pledge and the COP29 Declaration to Reduce Methane from Organic Waste (ROW declaration), signatory countries have pledged to significantly reduce waste methane emissions by 2030. While this will pose an increase of political and financial resources driven towards the waste sector, there is a need to ensure the implementation of measures to reduce methane emissions is aligned with the Environmental Justice Principles for Fast Action on Waste and Methane.
This toolkit introduces six key strategies to help municipalities reduce methane emissions from organic waste: animal feed, composting, vermicomposting, anaerobic digestion, black soldier fly processing, and landfill biocovers. The primary objective is to prevent organic waste from reaching landfills by prioritizing diversion and resource recovery.
Food waste and food loss is a pressing global issue with significant social, economic, and environmental implications if unaddressed. With increased awareness of its role in a zero waste system and the numerous projects and initiatives to combat food waste worldwide, it remains overlooked and often takes a backseat in the array of waste issues that needs urgent attention.
This publication highlights the successful interventions of Fundacion Basura in Chile and Gita Pertiwi in Indonesia addressing food waste across different settings. It shows best practices, innovative approaches, and lessons learned from each project area. Through the tangible impacts and actionable examples, it aims to inspire other communities and stakeholders to take action against food waste on a global scale.
Read the case studies here: https://www.no-burn.org/food-loss-waste/
Environmental justice is key to ensuring climate solutions that are fair, just, and sustainable in the future. Up until now, and despite its importance, there has been no central set of values and principles to guide decision-makers in order to ensure that the right steps are being taken to incorporate justice into national plans for methane reduction. The Framework includes a vision for systems change towards zero waste, climate justice, and quick action on methane reduction. Furthermore, it outlines five EJ principles for the waste sector. It is also complemented with guidance for policymakers and checklists for NDCs that are anchored to the five principles. Successful implementation of organic waste diversion in line with EJ principles builds community, waste worker, and local government buy-in and demonstrates the practical effectiveness of these strategies, including important co-benefits in livelihoods and environmental health.
Zero Waste Stories From Africa is a compilation of zero waste case studies from six different African countries. This publication celebrates the grassroots organisations leading these zero waste initiatives by documenting how their zero waste models work, best practices and the milestones in these projects. These organisations include: Association Zéro Déchet Sénégal, Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD), Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FOEN), Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO), Nipe Fagio, groundWork (gW), Asiye-eTafuleni (AeT), Urban Futures Centre (UFC) from the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Zero Waste Association of South Africa (ZWASA).
Waste is the third largest source of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent as CO2. Most waste sector methane emissions come from landfilling organic waste. This paper discusses how diverting organic waste from landfill is one of the fastest and most affordable ways to lower methane emissions.
