PUA Year 2 Quarterly Report 2: January 2021 – March 2021

PUA works to address both the challenge of excessive plastic waste and the potential to develop a competitive 'plastics circular economy' in Timor-Leste. The PUA is funded through a $900,000 investment from USAID, with an additional $1.35 million from private-sector investment. The PUA seeks to catalyze the growth of a plastics recycling industry, creating and expanding valuable employment and entrepreneurship opportunities with the potential to improve the natural beauty of Timor-Leste and protect the health and safety of its people. The goal is to advance Timor-Leste toward 'plastic neutral' status whereby unnecessary plastic use is curtailed and replaced, and up to 20% of Dili's plastic waste is collected and recycled into locally sought-after products within three years. Under this goal are three activity objectives: (1) Reduce Plastic Use, (2) Increase Plastic Recycling, and (3) Improve Plastics Management. The technical approach is built on the premise of multi-tiered stakeholder participation in the plastics recycling industry, whereby plastic by-products are collected from businesses and industry actors, waste contractors collect and sell plastic waste from community recycling bins, and waste pickers collect plastic waste directly from households, as well as discarded plastic waste in the community. Once collected, the plastic waste will be sold to aggregators and micro-processors, who aggregate, clean, sort, and/or shred plastics, creating a value-added product for sale onwards to upcyclers and asphalt producers. Key achievements of Quarter 2, Year 2 include expanding the Plastic Solutions Alliance, piloting an integrated plastic waste collection system in Dili, and deepening engagement with government. The Plastic Solutions Alliance has been formalized with the addition of the European Union, leveraging more than $3.5 million in private and development funding to achieve the shared vision of a plastic neutral Timor-Leste. The integrated plastic waste collection system has been piloted in Dili, resulting in the completion of the first end-to-end plastic waste collection rounds. Timor-Leste faces the urgent challenge of addressing excessive amounts of plastic waste, with Dili's mismanaged plastic waste posing risks to human health and safety and jeopardizing the growth potential of its nascent but promising tourism industry. The PUA initiative aims to address both the challenge of excessive plastic waste and the potential to develop a competitive 'plastics circular economy' in Timor-Leste. PUA catalyzes the growth of a plastics recycling industry, creating and expanding valuable employment and entrepreneurship opportunities with the potential to improve the natural beauty of Timor-Leste and protect the health and safety of its people. The PUA's goal is to assist Timor-Leste to achieve 'plastic neutral' status whereby unnecessary plastic use is curtailed and replaced, and up to 20% of Dili's plastic waste is collected and recycled into locally sought-after products within three years. The technical approach is built on the premise of multi-tiered stakeholder participation in the plastics recycling industry, with plastic by-products collected from businesses and industry actors, waste contractors collecting and selling plastic waste from community recycling bins, and waste pickers collecting plastic waste directly from households and discarded plastic waste in the community. The PUA has initiated extensive research to analyze global best practices in the development of recycling supply chains and upcycled product lines, with a focus on applicability to the local context. This analysis aims to examine how international initiatives may have tackled some of the market, environmental, or regulatory barriers the program is faced with, to share learning, ideas, and experience, and to explore opportunities to link PUA's efforts to global initiatives and coalitions.