Official development finance in solid waste management reveals insufficient resources for tackling plastic pollution: A global analysis of two decades of data
David J. Lerpiniere, David C. Wilson, Costas A. Velis
Abstract
• International co-operation in waste management helps tackle triple planetary crisis. • Official development finance on SWM has increased, but still not an ODF priority. • Low income countries received only 8 % of all waste-focused development finance. • Total waste management focused development finance is far short of what is needed. Providing effective solid waste and resources management (SWM) is essential to tackle plastics pollution, reduce carbon emissions and local air pollution from open burning, avoid disease spreading and enable circularity. Official development finance (ODF) is vital in providing relevant infrastructure and capacity development. We developed a novel standardised methodology to analyse OECD ODF data and applied it to 2003–2021, offering insights on the scale, flows and changes in SWM ODF. Despite an 8-fold increase, SWM-focused ODF is still very low, representing just 0.41 % of all ODF; and an order of magnitude less than water and sanitation ODF. Low-income countries received only 8 % of SWM ODF. Total commitments in 2021 were ca. 1.8 Billion USD - significantly short of the >30 Billion USD investment estimated as necessary for substantially reducing plastics pollution. The multi-lateral environmental agreement under negotiation (‘Plastics Treaty) needs to set ambitious targets for ODF and wider international co-operation.