Following our 2017 Seminar Seminar, our partners, Waste Aid, released a new Toolkit for waste management:
PRESS RELEASE
On Tuesday 17 October, waste management charity WasteAid UK launched its toolkit for community-led waste management, Making Waste Work.
Funded by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, the toolkit has been designed to inform, prepare and inspire communities around the world to manage their own waste sustainably.
Zoë Lenkiewicz, WasteAid UK Head of Communications, said, “One in three people around the world lack a decent waste management service. The public health and marine pollution consequences are clearly visible. WasteAid is taking action by sharing essential waste management and recycling skills with as many communities as we can, and theMaking Waste Work toolkit will help us magnify our impact.”
Some 2-3 billion people do not have their waste collected or properly managed. The open dumping and burning of waste spreads disease, harms livestock, aggravates flooding and accelerates climate change. With essential recycling skills however, communities can manage much of their waste independently and cost-effectively, preventing pollution and creating jobs in the process.
Professor David Wilson, CIWM President said, “I had the opportunity to select a project to be funded by CIWM to mark my Presidency, and Making Waste Work fits well with CIWM’s objects under our Royal Charter ‘to advance for the public benefit the art and science of wastes management worldwide’, and also with our focus on developing the skills of waste professionals.
“There are countless communities around the world where the local authorities have no funds to provide even the most basic waste management service. It is to help such communities that WasteAid has produced this practical guidance on low cost recycling technologies, which involve minimal capital investment and make products to sell in a local market. I am very happy to present this toolkit as the CIWM Presidential Report 2017.”
To ensure the toolkit reaches the right people WasteAid has focused on accessibility. The toolkit and accompanying how-to guides have been written in plain English, and are freely available to share for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons licence. Importantly, the guidance has been produced in mobile-friendly as well as print versions. The step-by-step instructions for a range of recycling technologies have been illustrated by artist Susan Hatfield, creating an easy-to-follow format.
Mike Webster, WasteAid UK Chief Executive said, “The essential waste management skills and recycling techniques we share in Making Waste Work can help a typical community recycle up to eighty per cent of its waste. We are confident that our model is effective and that simple waste management brings major improvements to people’s lives. We are now urgently seeking funders and partners to help us train more people to become recycling entrepreneurs.”
Starting on 20 November, WasteAid Week will be the next focal point for fundraising activities. Everyone is invited to take part and raise money to support the spread of vital recycling skills around the world.
The toolkit can be viewed and downloaded in full or in parts from www.wasteaid.org.uk/toolkit