Waste

ABOUT

WASTE develops and manages programmes and consultancies in the areas of (i) solid, liquid, and human waste; (ii) sanitation; and (iii) plastics pollution, in low- and middle- income countries. WASTE was founded in 1983 and holds office in The Hague, the Netherlands. As one of the first active NGOs in the NWP, WASTE aims to become a structural partner of other member organisations, that are working and exploring opportunities in low- and middle-income countries. Former experiences demonstrate that Dutch companies can make a difference in our programmes if they have the ability and interest to work openly and in participatory ways with our partners.

APPROACH

WASTE has developed influential and disruptive tools that support its programmes. These include: the Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM) framework, the Diamond Model for a systems-change and local capacity building approach to sector development, as well as many innovative financing initiatives which have attracted commercial financing to fill crucial sector funding gaps.

Through the Diamond Model, WASTE employs largely a business approach, believing that, enabled by the government, the private sector should play a key role in providing sanitation and waste management services to the public: construction of sanitation systems, collecting and segregating solid waste, collecting faecal sludge, recovery, reuse, recycling, and conversion, into new products. Simultaneously, local financial sector partners play a critical role in financing these activities and expanding their footprint in the sector. Authorities at every government level should become leading partners in developing the enabling environment required for facilitating, scaling, financing, and institutionalisation of these activities.

WASTE considers small and growing businesses (SGBs) as key drivers for its programmes and will continue to support and promote such businesses in sanitation and solid waste. For nearly two decades, WASTE has been working on innovative financing models to increase investment and leverage diminishing grant funding in the water/sanitation/hygiene (WASH) and waste management sectors. WASTE is one of the initiators of the Take-a-Stake Fund—a new impact investment fund focusing on the SGB-segment of middle-sized small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya, Uganda, and India.

IMPACT

Together with local and international partners, today WASTE manages and advises on multi-million-euro programmes in 11 countries in Asia and Africa. Between 2015-20, WASTE has facilitated the construction of at least 1.1 million toilets, reaching at least 6 million people through its FINISH Mondial programme, employing its foundational Diamond approach. With this holistic approach, its programmes are contributing to sustainable and resilient communities, increasingly moving towards localised circular sanitation economies.

WASTE envisions a world in which all people live in a clean environment with access to appropriate and sustainable sanitation and waste disposal services, that they use and can afford and  where these services are based on the sustainable use of resources. It is WASTE’s mission to initiate, strengthen and scale waste management solutions that assist urban communities to become healthier, contributing to greater social inclusion and protection of the environment.