Arising from the increasing concern about plastic waste contaminating the natural environment in Asia and the Pacific, this initiative set out to foster a development pathway that integrates the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability with the more efficient management of natural resources and a natural environment that supports human well-being and shared prosperity in Asian and Pacific urban areas. The goal was to identify a more inclusive circular economy approach to waste management. It fostered multi-stakeholder partnerships in workshops and gathered evidence in two case study cities – Bangkok, Thailand and Pune, India.
This regional guide brings together the city-specific findings as well as experiences from the Asia-Pacific region to highlight associated opportunities for fostering a more inclusive, circular waste management system. It highlights implemented measures and their impact as well as areas needing further research and development. It focuses on the informal sector in waste management to understand the workforce-based infrastructure and thus find sustainable pathways that can support informal efforts where they are effective or improve conditions for workers. Sustainable pathways thus include recognition of informal workers to future-proof their livelihoods and addressing plastic waste leakages to protect the environment.
This guide will be useful to urban stakeholders wanting to develop an inclusive circular economy approach in their city: municipal administrators, waste management specialists, civil society actors active in the informal waste management sector, and private sector waste managers.