Myanmar has had to face tremendous challenges in waste management in the recent past, due to a number of factors – its growing population and economy, increasing complexity of waste streams, and lack of effective waste management systems, proper infrastructure, capital investment, financial and human resources, as well as effective policy and regulatory environment. As a cross-cutting issue, waste management touches on all aspects of sustainable development, including the environment, society and economy, and as such is widely associated with a range of global challenges, including public health, climate change, poverty, food security, resource efficacy, sustainable cities and production and consumption.
To address these issues, the National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan (2018-2030) was developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) with the assistance of the International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET). It aims to build capacity for sustainable waste management and promote development of a conducive policy framework and strategies that transit from a conventional waste management paradigm to sustainable waste management based on waste hierarchy and the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), in linkage with other national environmental policies.
(This strategy was submitted in August 2018 and officially adopted and published in January 2020.)
