This year’s 7th International Marine Debris Conference (7IMDC) will take place from 18-23 September in Busan, Republic of Korea. GIZ together with partners (University of Leeds, Eawag, Wasteaware, RWA groups and David Newby Associates) will present on Increasing plastic data accountability and circularity in cities – understanding plastic leakage using the Waste Flow Diagram (WFD) under one of their themes for this year, which is Interoperable Data and Plastic Pollution Modelling Towards National Action Planning (TS-1.11). You can find a short summary of our topic here, tune in to hear more and join the discussion.
Around 80% of marine litter is thought to originate from land-based sources. It is estimated that 2 billion people around the world have no access to waste collection services and 3 billion people’s waste is managed in an environmentally unsustainable way. Inadequate waste collection services, waste management practices and infrastructure play a major role in macroplastic litter, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
In order to better understand the sources of plastic leakage and to inform decision-making leading to interventions to address marine plastics and debris, GIZ, the University of Leeds, Wasteaware and Eawag launched the Waste Flow Diagram 2020 on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It provides a rapid assessment of waste flows (quantities) in a municipal waste management system and estimates macro plastic leakages (emissions) into the environment. In addition to baseline and impact assessment of interventions, it provides a scenario planning function, including standardised visualisation of the subsequent results. Since its launch, it has been used in more than 100 cities and has promoted informed decision-making and infrastructure investment to improve municipal solid waste management, particularly in cities in low- and middle-income countries.
The WFD collects data through primary and secondary data collection, observation and interviews along the waste management stages (from generation, collection, transport, treatment/recovery to disposal). This data is collected in 5 sections: waste generation information, waste treatment and disposal, waste management in controlled facilities, plastic leakage and plastic fate. It combines a material flow analysis (MFA) approach with a systematic and observational qualitative assessment. In order to quantify plastic leakage through different stages of municipal solid waste management, it uses leakage and fate influencers, potential levels, factors, etc., from which options are selected based on observations. The leakage influencers list the state of infrastructure and applied practices for each process.
The WFD and UN-Habitat’s Waste Wise City tool are harmonised with the same data points, using the SDG 11.6.1 monitoring methodology (proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal solid waste generated). This provides ample opportunity for benchmarking and comparison of data between different cities, as well as between data from these two tools. Further developments to facilitate the use of the WFD tool by municipalities and consultants are underway. This includes an online portal for uploading and analysing data, which will allow further quality control and analysis of results, as well as comparison and benchmarking between cities. The online portal is designed with an open data approach, allowing data to be shared with other relevant databases. Further training materials will be developed to support users in carrying out WFD assessments.
These efforts will enhance the mainstreaming of the tool for global use and promote successful data collaboration and interoperable data models for informed decision-making and action planning on the ground, in line with the National Action Planning process to address marine litter and plastic pollution.
Team members: Steffen Blume (GIZ), Christian Zurbrügg (Eawag), Costas Velis (University of Leeds), Josh Cottom (University of Leeds), Andrew Whiteman (Wasteaware Ltd.), Mira Nagy (GIZ), Nidhi Thakkar (GIZ), David Newby (David Newby Associates), Andreea Oros-Baias (Wasteaware Ltd.), Maya Zaatar (Resource and Waste Advisory Group), Dorian Tosi Robinson (Eawag).
About the 7IMDC: The 7IMDC will build on the momentum of previous IMDCs by bringing together governments, industry, academia, civil society and all relevant stakeholders to discuss the latest science, strengthen collaborations, find solutions and catalyse action to address the urgent global problem of marine litter and plastic pollution.
The 7IMDC is organised by an Executive Committee comprising the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea (MOF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with organisational support from the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM) and technical support from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
