SESSION D09 / / 22 May 2026 / 11:15 - 12:30
Workshop - Sustainable and Circular WM in Developing Countries & Emerging Economies
Chair / Presidente: Roland Ramush (UK), Stefan Salhofer (AT), Benjamin Steuer (HK)
The workshop draws on the professional experience of organisers and participants to examine how solid waste management systems in low-income and emerging economies can be effectively developed, scaled and financed. By synthesising practical insights from different contexts, it aims to distil empirical evidence on the constraints and enabling conditions that underpin successful, system‑level transitions towards sustainable waste management. Building on this framework, the workshop is structured around three interlinked sections. First, the workshop analyses case studies of projects seeking to establish sustainable waste management systems in different country contexts, focusing on stakeholder involvement, institutional roles, and the extent to which capacity‑building goals were met in practice. Second, the workshop examines the financing of sustainable waste management infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on the role of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and development finance. The discussion considers how IFIs assess, structure, and sequence investments in municipal solid waste management across varying levels of system maturity and country contexts. Drawing on real project experience, contributions will explore how operations and environmental performance can be improved while maintaining affordability, institutional feasibility, and public acceptance. Topics include project readiness, sequencing, alignment with EU waste legislation and climate objectives, the selection and timing of specific technologies as well as the alignment of financial investments with local institutional and organisational capacity. Third, the workshop synthesizes the insights from the previous sections to reflect on whether system change in low-income and emerging economies is primarily driven by technological interventions or behavioral and organisational transformation, or the alignment of multiple system components. Designed as an interactive exchange between researchers, practitioners, financiers, consultants and municipalities, the workshop encourages participants to reflect on why well‑intended investments often fall short when confronted with socio-economic, cultural, and environmental complexities, and what this implies for the design of coherent, context‑appropriate, and sustainable future waste management interventions.
