Brazil - Establish standardized national guidelines for small-scale composting, harmonizing subnational regulations and promoting best practices in organic waste management

This project responds to a request made by the National Secretariat of Urban Environment, Water Resources and Environmental Quality of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil.

The project aims to update the Technical Bulletin "Technical Criteria for Designing, Operating, and Monitoring Small-Scale Composting Yards" incorporating subnational regulations and national guidelines. This Bulletin will provide technical backing for municipalities to implement organic waste management systems, diverting this fraction from landfills. The initiative promotes organic waste recycling, methane emission reduction and decentralized waste treatment, aligning with Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy.  

The updated Bulletin will detail parameters for facilities processing up to 10 t/day, covering 80% of municipalities. It will also assess subnational regulations to standardize licensing criteria. By enhancing institutional capacity, the project will support public policy development and a favorable regulatory framework for decentralized composting solutions in urban and rural areas.

This project should align with and help advance implementation and/or compliance with Brazil’s:

• National Solid Waste Policy, which recognizes composting as an environmentally sound solution for organic waste.  
• National Plan on Reduction and Recycling of Municipal Organic Waste (under development), which aims for all states and the Federal District to establish environmental quality criteria for decentralized composting units by 2030.  

The project will foster a favourable regulatory environment, streamlining licensing processes and ensuring legal security for investments. Standardizing licensing and procurement procedures will prioritize organic waste recycling, strengthening decentralized waste management and expanding municipalities' capacity for sustainable solutions.

By promoting alternatives to landfilling, the initiative aligns with national climate mitigation and development goals, encouraging policies that enhance circular economy practices and emissions reduction. Finally, this scope is also aligned with the necessary national actions to mitigate short-lived climate pollutants in the context of COP-30.

This project supports the implementation of the:

• COP29 declaration on reducing methane from organic waste, which highlights the need to work along the lines of Avoidance, Diversion, Valorisation and Infrastructure, ie emphasizing more ‘upstream’ solutions to reduce the need for more landfills in the first place and comes with circular economy benefits.  
• The Lowering Organic Waste Management Initiative (LOW-M) focusing on lowering organic waste methane across the value chain highlights methane abatement opportunities upstream (food loss and waste avoidance), midstream (strategies for organic waste diversion from final disposal) and downstream (tackling methane emissions from final disposal sites).  
• 2021 Global Methane Pledge (GMP), launched at COP26
• The regional programme for dumpsite closure and reduction of methane emissions that from organic waste in Latin America and the Caribbean that is being developed by UNEP-Convened CCAC in cooperation with UNEP Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The project can also serve as a preparatory activity for the GCF methane programme.

Expected results:

Outcome 1: The Government of Brazil endorses standardized national guidelines for small-scale composting, harmonizing subnational regulations and promoting best practices in organic waste management.  

• Output 1.1 Develop standardized national guidelines for small-scale compositing promoting best practices in organic waste management, including:
  • Diagnostic of sub-national regulations;
  • interviews with policymakers and operators to understand challenges;  
  • systematization of technical guidelines based on best practices; and
  • preparation and dissemination of the updated Technical Bulletin.  

The document will consolidate regulatory criteria, ensuring legal certainty and efficiency for implementing and monitoring decentralized composting units.  

Outcome 2: The Government of Brazil adopts the guidelines recommendations to improve legislation and to drive public policies aligned with a circular economy, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. 

Project Reference: [BR-25-002T] – Establish standardized national guidelines for small-scale composting, harmonizing subnational regulations and promoting best practices in organic waste management