Technical support pilot to improve national plastic waste reporting

Resource Futures is working with the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS Secretariat) to pilot tools for environmentally sound management of plastic waste in more than 19 countries.

The three-year technical support project will guide national efforts to identify and quantify plastic waste flows and develop strategies to address plastic pollution issues through environmentally sound management (ESM) of waste. Additionally, learnings from the pilots will be used to update the national plastic waste inventory toolkit.

Developed and pilot tested by Resource Futures in Ghana during a previous commission with the Secretariat, the toolkit and framework on plastic waste ESM are now being piloted in countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

The objective of the project is to provide training and capacity development assistance to member countries under the Basel Convention. Outcomes from the implementation of the inventory and use of the ESM framework will help inform and improve their national efforts to improve plastic waste monitoring and management.

“The toolkit is not only designed to help countries understand the scale of the plastic waste problem in their country, it can also enable the development of a systematic and robust recording and reporting system to monitor plastic waste flows on a continual basis. This involves the participation and engagement of stakeholders across the waste management chain.”

Archana Pisharody, Senior Consultant at Resource Futures

Alongside national and regional training workshops, Resource Futures will provide teams from each pilot country with customised support on data gathering and results assessment as part of the development of the national plastic waste inventory. This holistic support will also enable an understanding of the solid waste management value chain in each country, including participating actors, activities and data recording requirements.

The activities will facilitate long-term national plastic waste monitoring efforts that will also contribute towards countries’ national reporting requirements under the Basel Convention.

For select countries, additional support towards the development of national strategies for ESM of plastic waste will be provided. Alongside the considerations outlined within the framework on plastic waste ESM developed by Resource Futures, the guidance provided will draw on Resource Futures’ abundance of experience and expertise in developing 3R strategies and best practice support in other geographies.