Towards financially sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management systems in Africa through the African Clean Cities Platform

The event organizer is the African Clean Cities Platform (ACCP) partners, who are the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, JICA, City of Yokohama, UNEP, and UN-Habitat. The ACCP is a knowledge-sharing, capacity development, and investment promotion platform for improved municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in Africa to implement the Paris Agreement and to achieve the SDGs. It has grown to a network of 188 cities from 47 countries in the African continent (as of 5 April 2024).
Financial sustainability in MSWM has been one of the main challenges in many African low- and middle-income cities. While actions and specific commitments to invest in sustainable MSWM infrastructures have been made in the past years, many cities are still struggling to deliver waste collection services, operating recovery and disposal facilities in a controlled manner that does not harm the environment and human health, among other challenges.
In 2021, ACCP conducted a household survey on access to a basic waste collection service, which revealed over 90% of the population in slums lacks access to a basic waste collection service. In contrast, nearly 70% of those in non-slum areas do have access. In addition, UN-Habitat’s global monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 11.6.1 found that Africa’s waste management situation is more urgent than other regions, that the average collection rate is 52 %, and more than 80% of MSW generated is mismanaged. These indicate that the major sources of methane and other short-lived climate pollutants largely occur in the most impoverished urban areas of African cities.
One of the reasons for these highlighted issues, is low political commitment to sustainable MSWM, with local governments challenged by a lack of financial resources to maintain and operate the facilities properly.
The establishment of appropriate operational expense (OPEX) mechanisms and connecting cities with financing institutions are essential to address the above issues and achieve SDGs at a local level. The event will explore the opportunities to build synergies between ACCP members and waste management stakeholders, especially those working in the African continent, to favor capital investments in MSW infrastructure and the establishment of a sustainable financing system for OPEX.
The session will have internationally renowned experts to discuss the solutions. Proposed speakers from multi-lateral banks or international financial institutions will discuss why the OPEX should be well considered and the necessary commitments by the countries/ cities for the investment cases in Africa’s MSWM. It also includes how to identify and develop bankable MSWM projects with case studies in African countries. The event will invite the member cities that show the impacts of institutional commitment and fundamentals in the mobilization of internal resources, to enhance the operation of the MSWM system in the cities.