Sustainable resources and waste management – understood by the FSWP as waste management in a broad sense, including prevention, collection, conservation and recovery of resources, and the treatment of residual waste – constitutes a key cross-cutting issue for public health, environmental protection, the fight against climate change, the preservation of biodiversity and the transition to more resilient economies implementing circular economy measures**. This issue is taking on increasing importance in national and international public policies and contributes directly to the achievement of the SDGs.
Numerous international initiatives are already working towards achieving the SDGs and safeguarding health and the environment by improving the sustainable management of resources and waste. However, these initiatives remain scattered and fragmented in their ambitions. There are many stakeholders involved — national and local authorities, businesses, financial institutions, international organisations, civil society actors and academia — but they do not yet have a common platform to structure dialogue, share experiences and collectively examine the transition pathways needed. The absence of such a common platform, and of a shared vision on resources and waste, limits the coherence and impact of local actions.
This observation gave rise to the international ‘Global Push’ initiative, whose primary objective is to ensure that international frameworks are well informed on waste prevention and management, in order to facilitate projects that contribute to sustainable development as a whole. The initiative is currently led by the PFD, with ISWA (International Solid Waste Association) and its members, UNEP-IETC (United Nations Environment Programme), the Secretariat of the BRS Conventions (Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm), UN-Habitat, and the WHO (World Health Organization) as discussion partners.
The ’Global Push’ initiative – Uniting for action
The initiative aims to bring together stakeholders in resources and waste prevention and management, and to create the international context needed to stimulate local action and support the transition to more circular systems – an essential step towards achieving all the SDGs.
A Proposed Position
In order to bring together all key stakeholders to advance the initiative, a Position has been drawn up. It sets out three common objectives as the foundations of a shared vision:
(1) Extending municipal solid waste collection to everyone and end uncontrolled dumping and burning; and progressively implementing waste recovery and treatment systems in accordance with Environmentally Sound Management (ESM);
(2) Implementing the actions of circular economy, and taking steps to transition towards sustainable models of production, consumption and usage;
(3) Improving governance systems, including through four levers:
- Regulation, public policy and planning;
- Inclusion of all stakeholders;
- Sustainable financing; and
- Monitoring, reporting, verification and traceability.
Endorsing the Position is a voluntary process, with no obligation: each organisation or institution may endorse it at its own pace to affirm its commitment to the proposed vision and its willingness to move in this direction. Once each stakeholder group is represented around the same discussion table by an organisation that has endorsed the Position, the latter will then be revised and refined.
A three-pronged approach
In order to position resourcesw and waste management as a central issue in sustainable development, the Global Push initiative is based on three pillars, which must be advanced in tandem:
- Shaping international frameworks to incorporate circularity, with waste collection and treatment serving as a safeguard and an essential element of sustainable development. Building on the shared vision set out in the Position, the resources and waste community will convey clear and consistent messages in negotiating forums, to be incorporated into the various international frameworks, conventions and treaties relating to economic development, environmental protection and social equity. The messages or policy calls arising from this Position would provide a common frame of reference for public policy, recognising the cross-cutting role of resource and waste management in the implementation of the SDGs, and would strengthen the political and operational mobilisation of stakeholders.
- Incorporating into financial mechanisms and funders’ terms of reference the need to implement all circular economy measures to reduce waste volumes. This reduction must be accompanied by safe waste management in line with ESM principles, to better understand what needs to be reduced and, above all, to act as a safeguard for circular loops. These loops must be based on the principle of prioritising the protection of health and the environment over the desire to close material loops. The Position would serve as a guide when developing terms of reference for project funding.
- Building human, technical and scientific capacity to support the implementation of high-impact projects on the ground. The initiative helps to coordinate the exchange of knowledge and the development of tools to facilitate the implementation of local management in line with the systemic changes taking place at international level.
To support progress across these three pillars of action, the creation of a forum for discussion amongst all stakeholders appears crucial, to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and lessons learnt, and the implementation of actions contributing to a shared goal. The aim is to strengthen synergies between actors and levels of governance, and to move beyond the usual sectoral silos in order to achieve the SDGs.
*Decarbonisation means reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
**Refer to ISO Standard 59004 for the list of 13 prioritised actions, also available here.
