Solid Waste Management & Recycling

Source Metadata

CPI Definition & Scope

Solid Waste Management and Recycling in CPI's GLCF framework tracks climate finance directed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from waste disposal and material recovery. CPI captures investment in sanitary landfills with methane capture, composting facilities, material recovery and recycling infrastructure, extended producer responsibility programs, and waste collection modernization. CPI notes that the waste sector has historically received low levels of climate finance despite its significant mitigation potential, particularly for methane reduction.

Subsectors & Examples

• Landfill Methane Capture — gas collection systems, landfill-to-energy, flaring
• Recycling Infrastructure — material recovery facilities, sorting technology, reverse logistics
• Composting & Organics — industrial composting, anaerobic digestion of organic waste
• Waste Collection Modernization — source separation programs, collection route optimization
• Extended Producer Responsibility — packaging take-back, e-waste recovery systems

Mitigation & Adaptation Classification

Solid waste management is classified as mitigation in CPI's framework. The primary benefit is methane emission reduction from avoided open dumping and landfill gas capture. Methane has 80x the warming potential of CO2 over 20 years, making waste management a high-impact mitigation opportunity tracked by CPI as part of the Global Methane Pledge framework.

LATAM Relevance

Waste management is a critical climate issue for Latin America where many cities still rely on open dumps. Colombia's Doña Juana landfill in Bogota and other major disposal sites are targets for methane capture investment. Peru's waste management sector is undergoing reform with new recycling mandates and formalization of waste picker cooperatives. Costa Rica's National Decarbonization Plan includes waste reduction targets. The region's large informal recycling sector creates opportunities for inclusive climate finance approaches.

Cleantech Taxonomy Crosswalk

Maps to Cleantech Taxonomy sector WA (Waste) for solid waste management. Cross-references with ES (Energy Systems) for waste-to-energy generation and IN (Industry) for recycled material inputs to manufacturing.