Municipal Waste Recycling Program Annual Standalone Report on Stakeholders – FY 2019

The program focuses on identifying and scaling innovations that enhance municipal waste recycling in four Asian countries: the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Indonesia. These countries are among the world's top five producers of plastic waste, and improving municipal waste management is crucial to reducing plastic pollution, which threatens human health and the marine environment. The MWRP team continued to work closely with USAID to facilitate and secure stakeholder engagement in plastic waste reduction efforts. The program facilitated regular communication between stakeholders, including households, waste collectors, city officials, and recyclers, to improve the efficiency of the municipal solid waste management system. MWRP grantees strengthened the collaboration between informal waste collectors and local government units responsible for trash collection. For instance, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, ENDA Vietnam supported independent waste collector cooperatives' efforts to work closely with the city environment office to schedule the pickup of waste collected by IWCs and transportation to transfer points citywide. MWRP also promoted communication between stakeholders operating in different cities to encourage the exchange of experiences and lessons learned on improving solid waste management systems. For example, in the Philippines, the MWRP team helped organize an exposure visit for officials from five barangays and C3MC project staff operating in Palawan Island to Metro Manila. The participants visited several solid waste management sites in Metro Manila where CRS and World Vision were implementing project activities. The MWRP team helped facilitate the participation of grantees in national, regional, and international meetings, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Marine Debris Stakeholder Meeting. These events allowed MWRP grantees to share project results, as well as policy and practice recommendations, on effective solid waste management systems that promote the reduction of marine plastic pollution with a wide range of stakeholders. These stakeholders included representatives from local and national governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations operating in the solid waste management sector. MWRP grantees successfully secured the engagement of the private sector in MWRP-related activities. Grantees partnered with multinational corporations, national companies, and local private stakeholders to promote the reduction of marine plastic pollution. For example, World Vision collaborated with Coca Cola in the Philippines, and Divers Clean Action partnered with Danone AQUA in Indonesia. The MWRP team helped facilitate the participation of grantees in key national, regional, and international events, during which they had the opportunity to describe their work under MWRP, achievements, and lessons learned. The following list highlights a number of these meetings: * October 18, 2018: The MWRP grantee ENDA participated in the International Solid Waste Association 2018 World Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. * November 7-10, 2018: The MWRP team helped organize an exposure visit for officials from five barangays and C3MC project staff operating in Palawan Island to Metro Manila. * December 2018: The MWRP grantee Bintari participated in the Indonesia National Solid Waste Management Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia. * January 2019: The MWRP grantee Janathakshan participated in the Sri Lanka National Solid Waste Management Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The MWRP team continued to work closely with USAID to facilitate and secure stakeholder engagement in plastic waste reduction efforts. The program's focus on improving municipal waste recycling efforts in Asia is crucial to reducing plastic pollution, which threatens human health and the marine environment.