Zero Waste Peninsula

Long description

This is an UN-One Planet Network Initiative which combines social innovation, circular economy and waste management, aiming to reduce land and water pollution while providing food security in an environmental preservation area and tourism region in South Bahia, Brazil. It is located in a sensitive ecosystem in the Camamú Bay, where local communities live mainly from fishing and tourism and none of them have basic sanitation orwaste management services. Regular landfills are not allowed to operate in the preservation area and the municipal collection service illegally disposes of about 5000 tons of mixed waste per year into a mangrove area, causing a massive pollution in ground and river systems as well as the marine coast with toxic slurry and solid waste. The Zero Waste Peninsula Program proposes to solve this severe solid waste pollution issue by combining circular economy solutions and sustainable lifestyle education. The first phase of the program consists of teaching waste reduction and waste separation to consumers (private, business & institutional) as a prerequisite for a circular resource management. A broad education program is being implemented while a first pilot composting facility is built. The second and parallel phase consists of a reverse logistics system, that return valuable resources to recyclers. The innovative concept is based on capacity building, leadership and circular systems that are easily replicable at low costs in Bahia, Brazil and worldwide.

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