Heuër, A., Dogo Ali, M. 2016. Waste management driving green growth. GREAT Insights Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 2. March/April 2016.
Why is solid waste management still such a challenge?
SWM as a pathway to green growth?
One crucial aspect of the sector is that it is accessible to all, even the poorest with few other employment opportunities, regardless of age, level of education or skills set, and it has low capital requirements. Nevertheless, the flipside is that the often informal and unregulated nature of those jobs results in unsafe working conditions, lack of physical protection, insecure income, child labour, and the absence of any social protection; i.e. not green and inclusive jobs. So how do we ensure that the SWM sector becomes a driver for green growth, rather than just a way of creating cheap and unregulated labour?
Over the last ten years at Sustainable Entrepreneurship for Economic Development (SEED) it has become quite apparent how valuable multi-stakeholder partnerships are in transforming the SWM sector into an engine for green and inclusive growth, which is particularly evident in the case of 2009 SEED Winner Almodo, in Niger.
Established in 2005, Almodo developed a SWM model to address the lack of waste collection in Niamey. They collect, sort and recycle waste using transformation processes well-known to the local population, which makes the technology accessible to all. The waste is then recycled into low cost products in the field of energy, agriculture, building and carpentry, substituting standard goods that impact climate change through deforestation, industrialisation and chemical fertilisation.
The strength of Almodo lies in its ability to bring multi stakeholders together and foster local ownership. Led by the private company GVD-Afrique, the Almodo concept is based on a partnership between businesses, civil society organisations (CSOs) and city councils. Upon request, Almodo first trains city councils in sustainable waste management and sets up a project plan for the city. The second step revolves around engaging CSOs that work with marginalised citizens with few employment opportunities (mainly women, youth, rural communities, illiterate and disabled people). Through training, Almodo professionalises those vulnerable citizens as waste handlers and recyclers and ensures their products and service suit the local market. Finally GVD-A engages other local businesses to provide technical equipment, mostly locally sourced, and strengthens their know-how on innovative equipment development and maintenance. Most important in the process is the engagement of all partners from the outset and during the decision making process.
Through this multi-stakeholder partnership model, Almodo is able to generate true triple bottom line – environmental, social and economic – impacts. First, waste pollution and landfill gas emission at dumping sites are reduced, recycling rates are increased and the products created out of recycling mitigate climate change. In addition, public health is improved, and marginalised communities develop transferable skills and are lifted out of poverty through safe and regulated employment opportunities. Besides increased income at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP), the products (made out of recycled material) are cheaper than their standard (unrecycled) substitutes; both contributing to the increase of the families' purchase power. Finally, at municipal level, costs of waste management are reduced (up to 80%) and income increased through carbon credits.
The replication rate of the model is a testimony to its success. Starting out with 1147 households in two quarters of Niamey, they have now been approached by 50 city councils in Niger, Mali, Togo, Congo, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast to replicate the model. As a result, they now provide direct employment to over 2,500 people and cater for over 100,000 low income households.
Clearly the SWM sector offers valuable pathways to a green economy as it has the potential to generate multiple benefits. While there is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution to sustainable SWM, for the sector to develop to its full potential and achieve triple bottom line impacts for green growth, it is essential to create inclusive and green value chains.
Almodo provides a snapshot of one solution, but for SWM to truly reach global impact and contribute to the Global Goals, it is now imperative for policy makers to support the replication of such models (tailored to their local context) at a large scale. More insights are needed into the barriers and success factors of such partnerships in SWM. For instance, while some partnerships are formalised, many partnerships at the BoP are based on trust and remain informal, which is a critical factor in the partnership management. The next step is then to further examine not only how policies, regulatory frameworks, and markets can support the scale up of the sector, but also how the ecosystem around it can boost its productivity and finally which reforms are necessary. In that, we all have a role to play and we encourage governments, civil society institutions and businesses to join forces in this challenge.
Hoornweg, D. and Perinaz, B. 2012. What a waste: A global review of Solid Waste Management. Urban Development Series – Knowledge Papers. World Bank.
UNEP. 2011. Waste: Investing in energy and resource efficiency: Towards a green economy.
Bymolt R. et al. 2015. Shaping sustainable development through eco-entrepreneurship. SEED Policy Report. Berlin: SEED.
Amélie Heuër is Head of Research at Sustainable Entrepreneurship for Economic Development (SEED).
Moussa Dogo Ali is Director of GVD-Afrique and founder of Almodo, a sustainable self-financing solid waste management system.
Photo: Almodo waste recycling. Credit: Supplied by the authors.