Waste is one of the key challenges in addressing Climate Change in cities. There are multiple types of waste but the most common types are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial, Medical and Electronic wastes. The highest daily volume is the Municipal Solid Waste.

 

With the advancement of technologies to convert waste into value add products, most developed countries have embarked into the policy to minimise landfills with eventual closure. However, the Municipal Waste Management in most developing and underd-eveloped countries are still adopting the obsolete concession based waste collection and landfills where there are minimal utilisation of technologies for conversion into meaningful raw material and products. Such obsolete approach in managing landfills has posed extensive annual capital and operational expenditure to Governments in an already stretched budgetary resources.

 

In progressing this waste conversion into product in a more systemised manner, more forward looking States and Cities have embarked into the Waste Eco-Tech Park approach (WEP). This WEP receives waste from upstream sources and separate the co-mingled waste into segregated waste for downstream tenants in WEP to convert into specific value add materials and products.

 

Apart from capital investments (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) savings to Governments, this WEP provides more opportunities for SMEs compared to the Incinerator approach in which the latter incurs huge investments. In minimising CAPEX to Governments, strategic partnership with private sector is important whereby  the governments' role is purely to provide rights to the waste and in some instances, land for the park, without incurring any financial obligations.

 

The WEP can be regarded as Private and Public Partnership (PPP) Program as it involves technology and product development by anchor companies and downstream manufacturing activities by Small and Medium Industries (SMEs) as tenants to the WEP, and the Government as the enabler. In this partnership effort, CITYNEXUS provides value add in synergising these partners in content centric program with the Government. This program, absolutely requires the political will and forward thinking of Governments to lead this noble effort in addressing climate change and the creation of new Circular Economy for our future generations towards zero landfills.