Costa Rica - Accelerating actions to improve organic waste management and reduce methane

Year

2022

Funding

CCAC Funded

Implementing partners

Fundación Centro de Gestión Tecnológica e Informática Industrial (CEGESTI)

This project supported Costa Rica in managing organic waste through transformative actions and strategies by harnessing business opportunities (organic waste valorization, biofertilizer production, emissions capture from landfills, etc.), promoting a dialogue among the financial sector, developing financial mechanisms within national and local governments and the private sector to accelerate transformative actions and promote synergies among CCAC members, and using the CCAC website to strengthen knowledge on transformative actions aiming to reduce methane.

Work carried out under this project has supported the goals set by Costa Rica in their National Decarbonization Plan, NAMA (National Appropriate Mitigation Action) 2020 on Solid Waste, and the National Plan on Composting. In particular, this project has proposed business models for organic waste recovery projects, the creation of public-private alliances, and the identification of financial mechanisms. This project also contributed to strengthening relations between national and local governments.

Project reference: Costa Rica - Accelerating actions to improve organic waste management and reduce methane [CR-21-001]

Objectives

Accelerate the implementation of transformative actions for organic waste management (recovery of organic waste, production of biofertilizer and energy, savings by avoiding waste)
Promote dialogue among the financial sector, national & local governments, and private sector to develop financial mechanisms to boost organic waste initiatives as a tool to achieve the NDC's goals
Enhance transfer of knowledge and dissemination of results taking advantage of CCAC Waste Hub and other international venues

BACKGROUND

The Solid Waste NAMA 2020 has specific commitments on the treatment of organic waste at industrial and domestic level, promotion of the use of bio digestion as a treatment method for solid organic waste at the level of large or multiple generators, and incentives for the separation of organic and non-organic waste. Despite the legal framework, a more comprehensive view of organic waste management, and more importantly, how private-public initiatives can offer sustainable solutions for reducing SLPCs, is required.

Regional level initiatives on organic waste management have been incipient; therefore, this project aimed to provide relevant information to promote the development of activities in the organic waste sector from integral management.

ACTIVITIES

Identification of the beneficiaries and the actors of the project, such as municipalities, the Ministry of Health, Office of Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment, private sector, and financial sector.
Identification of actual initiatives with business potential in integral organic waste management supported by the public and private sector.
Training for the development of capacities for the comprehension, analysis, and development of projects in organic waste management. The training also included teaching of tools for cost-benefit analysis (private and social) of this kind of project, including the quantification of CO2 and SLCPs emission mitigation and how to design and evaluate the implementation of composting facilities.
Identification of emissions levels from organic waste without proper treatment as a baseline and obtaining an estimate emission reduction that would be obtained when achieving the outcome of the project.
Quantification of emissions and cost-benefits analyses of the scenarios selected for three candidate projects. Inclusion of the market opportunities for the three projects.
Presentation of pre-feasibility of business model proposals with the participation of national and local governments, businesses, and financial sector.
Design a plan to support the three selected projects to find financial opportunities. The plan included activities such as a meeting with financial institutions and identification of international calls for proposals.
Conduct regular meetings with the counterparts to inform and obtain feedback of the project.
Identification of financial sources for organic waste management projects at local and international levels, including coordinating with CCAC Waste Hub to gather information on financial instruments.
Conduct a workshop with the participation of key stakeholders, such as those from the financial sector, local and national governments, private sector to find ways to make financial instruments available to finance organic waste management projects.
Design a roadmap based on the findings of the workshop to put financial instruments in place by the financial sector.
Organize an international workshop with the participation of CCAC state members and Waste Hub experts alongside other initiatives working on waste, such as C40 Cities, Global Methane Initiative, UN-Habitat, ICLEI, and UNEP, for experience sharing on instruments to accelerate transformative actions and disseminate project results.
Development of communication materials of the project, such as press releases and posts for social media.