SWITCH Africa Green Regional Sector Meeting on Integrated Waste Management

The SWITCH Africa Green Regional Sector meeting on Integrated Waste Management, was held on 11 - 12 June 2019, in Accra, Ghana. The meeting brought together Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) experts, policy and decision makers, financial institutions and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and government officials from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria and China among others, Regional Economic Communities such as Economic Commission Of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development Community (SADC), the European Union (EU), UN agencies as well as experts and stakeholders in the waste sector.

Speakers

Speakers included Mr. John Pwamang of the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Robert Wabunoha, Regional Coordinator of Environment Governance of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Ms. Susanna Martins from the EU Delegation in Ghana and a keynote speech by Ghana Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).

Setting the scene

Mr. Patrick Mwesigye, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency, United Nations Environment Programme set the scene of the meeting while Ms. Rhoda Wachira presented the Regional Sector Report on Integrated Waste Management: Focus on Green Business Development with a focus Integrated Waste Management, Tourism, Agriculture and Manufacturing.

Other sessions included a panel discussion on Waste as a resource- Some good practices with presentations on Turning E-Waste into Profit: The Potential of Landfills in Ghana, Waste to treasure; a case of Industrial symbiosis in Uganda, Beat Plastic Pollution in South and From Waste to energy - Biogas in Ghana. A session on Existing Circular Economy and Integrated Waste Management Practices  had presentations including EU’s transition to Circular Economy by Jens Nørgaard, SWITCH to green Facility, European Commission (EC), Integrated Waste Management in the City of Lagos by Lagos Waste management Authority by Ms. Adeyemo Oluwabuko and Sustainable Waste management models from China by the Department of Energy Conservation and Resources Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information technology of China. There were  Parallel Working Groups: Creating an enabling environment for circular economy and integrated waste management whose four groups on Financing for enterprises, Circular economy and integrated waste management policies for local governments, Technical assistance models for enterprises in waste management, Innovative solutions of turning waste to business opportunities and Sustainable trade and markets, reported to the plenary.

Recommendations for developing an enabling environment for circular economy and integrated waste management in Africa

It was recommended that Africa should develop a regional framework on integrated waste governance with a focus to regulate trade on waste within the country and across borders, looking at barriers to trade on waste and its products and recommendations to address it.

The workshop report is available here.