Tools & Resources

A publication highlighting the work and realities of waste pickers in India.

Les invitamos a leer esta nueva memoria de GAIA LAC. En ella mostramos una pincelada de los motores fundamentales de cambio presentes en los territorios a lo largo de nuestro hermoso continente. Se trata de una red de organizaciones, colectivos y personas que trabajan incansablemente por basura cero, como expresión de un mundo libre de tóxicos y de basura, comunitario, participativo y austero. Qué duda cabe que nos espera mucho trabajo en este 2023; por eso les compartimos la energía y la esperanza del 2022 como agua limpia para sanar las penas, celebrar las alegrías, saciar la sed y continuar caminando con la frente en alto.
Magdalena Donoso
Coordinadora regional

There is no dearth of women environmental leaders in Asia Pacific. In the past decades, the region has become host to many impactful environmental initiatives and campaigns spearheaded by women leaders who not only dared to dream of a better future, but also rolled their sleeves up to ensure that the better future they dreamed of would become a reality.

But while there is general awareness that women play crucial roles in driving societal changes, exactly what they have done, and how massive their impact has been are often told sparingly, if at all. The spotlight is seldom shone on women leaders. And when it is, they are either made to share it with their male counterparts, or the spotlight shone upon them does not shine bright enough to adequately highlight their impact. 

Hence, this publication.

Vision and Grit: Exceptional Zero Waste Women in the Asia Pacific Region was conceived out of the realization that we have yet to truly take stock of the invaluable contributions of women leaders in Asia Pacific, particularly in the Zero Waste movement. It features 14 women leaders across the region whose initiatives have made a huge impact in their communities and have served as an inspiration for others to do the same. Because of their work, thousands of lives have been changed for the better, progressive policies and regulations have been instituted at various levels, enabling conditions for more sustainable options have been jump started, and Zero Waste models have been developed. Admittedly, so much still needs to be done at various fronts, but so much has also been achieved. Change is actually happening, and it is hugely thanks to our women leaders. 

Pore over the pages of this book and learn about some of the women who have helped make the world we live in a better place, and be inspired by their compassion, determination, and grit. Read their stories and understand their motivations, and be amazed and grateful that they stood up for what they believed in when they did, and continued the fight even when things were difficult. Our current realities may still be filled with challenges, but it is less so because women of character and strength live among us.

El presente informe se organiza en torno a tres beneficios generales que conlleva incorpora la estrategia basura cero a los sistemas actuales de gestión de residuos. Estos son: mitigación del cambio climático, adaptación, y beneficios sociales adicionales (también llamados cobeneficios). En el úlitmo capítulo, se presentan estudios de casos que exponen los beneficios de las estrategias de basura cero en ocho ciudades diferentes, demostrando que este sistema no solo es muy eficiente, sino también fácilmente adaptable a diferentes necesidades y circunstancias.

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.

To keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, methane emissions must be cut by 45% this decade. Read more about how emissions can be cut in the three top emitting sectors: energy, agriculture, and waste .

We are excited to share with you GAIA's Shared-Tools Program!

WHAT IS THE SHARED-TOOLS PROGRAM?
As GAIA members, you have the opportunity to access several paid accounts of online tools that you can utilize for your campaigns. These online tools include Zoom accounts (both for meetings and webinars), Canva, Mentimeter, and Streamyard.

HOW TO AVAIL:

• Zoom (in the meantime, reach out to Trish)
• Registration link to access Canva, Streamyard, Mentimeter (please reach out to Trish)
• Please wait for the confirmation email that includes the login details.

Thank you for your cooperation!

If you need training on any of these tools, please reach out to Trish Parras [patricia@no-burn.org]

A new report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) provides the clearest and most comprehensive evidence to date of how better waste management is critical to the climate fight, while building resilience, creating jobs, and promoting thriving local economies.

In 2012, the Drakenstein municipality signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Interwaste, a waste management company, to construct a municipal waste incinerator to address the municipalities waste issues.

The resistance to this municipal incinerator involved several key actors, this included the Drakenstein Environmental Watch (DEW), Wellington Association Against the Incinerator (WAAI), groundWork (gW), South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA), GAIA, community residents, vulnerable groups that
would have been affected by the project, water experts, engineers and legal clinics were just some of the agents that supported the resistance of the municipal waste incinerator.

En 2021 GAIA presentó gracias al trabajo de sus miembros en cuatro países, una investigación crítica con información inédita sobre las importaciones de residuos plásticos que estaban ingresando a países de América Latina. En esta oportunidad, compartiremos los principales hallazgos de la segunda ronda de reportes investigativos realizados por dichos miembros de GAIA en cuatro países de la región: México, Ecuador, Chile y Argentina.

Además, se incluyen mapas que grafican las importaciones y exportaciones de residuos plásticos, siendo este último un elemento nuevo dentro de las investigaciones debido al hallazgo de cifras de exportación dentro de América Latina e incluso hacia Estados Unidos, el mayor exportador de plásticos a nuestro continente.

Five illustrated booklets - Plastics Crisis: Challenges, Advances and Relationship with Wastepickers.

Contents:

• Plastic Life Cycle and the Globalized Socio-Environmental Crisis.
• The Plastic Production.
• Toxic Additives in Plastic.
• False Solutions and Businesses that Aim to End Pollution.
• The global plastic treaty to Control its Complete Life Cycle.