Rural communities face particular challenges with waste management:
🚚 Transport is expensive, so waste collections are often non-existent
🤷♀️ It’s rare to have a waste manager in your village, so nobody knows what do with their waste other than to dump or burn it
📈 Small populations generate small amounts of waste, so economies of scale can be difficult to reach
🌱 Most of the waste is organic, with some plastics mixed in, and on the face of it neither of these have much value
🏝 While cities attract most of the attention and funding for waste management, villages are often left behind
Waste collection coverage for rural communities is far lower than in urban areas. As a consequence, rural communities need to manage their waste independently, resulting in a higher reliance on open burning 🔥 and dumping 🐠
That is why I am beyond excited to be joining the CLOCC (Clean Oceans through Clean Communities) team in Indonesia to implement rural waste management initiatives.
We will be addressing waste management for these often left-behind communities, creating income-generating opportunities, preventing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution of air, land and sea. We’ll also be exploring how waste management can be used to improve food security and sanitation, and provide affordable and clean energy.
It’s basically the Sustainable Development Goals in a nutshell! 🌰
I can’t wait to get started and to learn and share with local experts.
IMAGE Data from the World Bank’s What a Waste 2.0 report