Thirteen Global South cities have signed up to C40’s Pathway Towards Zero Waste, which aims to slash waste emissions and set cities on a path to a cleaner, healthier, more resilient and inclusive future.

The Pathway’s launch was announced on October 21,2022 during  the C40 World Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Inaugural signatories are the cities of Accra, Amman, Bengaluru, Buenos Aires, Curitiba, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Ekurhuleni, Freetown, Nairobi, Quito, Rio de Janeiro and Tshwane.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed that reducing methane emissions is the fastest way to tackle global warming.

Every 1kg of food waste disposed of in dumpsites and landfills not only pollutes the soil and underground water, but has the same climate impact as burning 1 litre of petrol.

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In most Global South cities, including those across Africa, Latin America, South East and Southwest Asia, waste is a large contributor to municipal emissions, and in some regions can represent up to 35% of municipal overall emissions, primarily from methane generated at dumpsites and landfills.

This is hugely detrimental to the environment, as methane’s contribution to global warming is 87 times higher than CO2 in the near term. C40 cities in the Global South generate more than 2 million tonnes of methane per year.

Zero waste

The thirteen cities that have signed the Pathway have taken a crucial step to reduce emissions in their cities, in line with C40’s Towards Zero Waste Accelerator.

By signing up to  the  Pathway,  cities  commit to working toward a set of ambitious targets by 2030, including providing timely city-wide waste collection services, treating at least 30% of organic waste and reducing waste disposal emissions by at least 30%.

To reach these targets, cities may pursue a variety of interventions, including the development of sanitary landfills (with landfill gas capture), improving informal sector working conditions, introducing a comprehensive recycling system and waste segregation framework, phasing out organic waste disposal, restricting single-use items and phasing out non-recyclable materials.

This commitment on waste and organics’ recovery will yield enormous benefits for the climate, health, food and water security, economic opportunity and soil restoration.

By reducing the disposal of food waste and improving waste operations and infrastructure, cities can work to avoid the worst impacts of climate change for this generation and deliver local benefits to our communities.

Progress

Many C40 cities are already making significant progress toward meeting this commitment.

For instance, Sao Paulo has introduced composting for fruit and vegetable markets, resulting in a total of 7,100 tons of organic waste having been collected and treated between January and August of 2020. This generated 1,400 tons of compost that was then used as fertilizer in municipal parks.

Lagos has improved waste collection, reinventing its waste systems and incentivizing social entrepreneurship.

Rio de Janeiro has engaged with the informal sector, boosting representation, which is also the case in Accra, where increased recognition has formalized the positions of 850 workers and increased waste collection by 10%, and Addis Ababa, which has engaged community cooperatives to increase organics treatment capacity and reduce uncollected waste and disposal.

Similarly, Buenos Aires has introduced waste cooperatives, helping to formalise informal waste collectors, increase recycling rates and improve living conditions. In addition, the introduction of a city-wide two-stream segregated collection has led to a reduction in waste disposed at landfills, while a food waste collection initiative, through drop-off sites for households, has helped cement new habits among residents.

Durban has focused on world class, cost effective, sanitary landfill conservancies and reforestation efforts that has helped to generate jobs and transformed exhausted landfills into conservation areas for local wildlife.

C40 Executive Director Mark Watts said: “I’m delighted that thirteen C40 Global South cities will be delivering science-based action on climate by joining the Pathway Towards Zero Waste. Waste is one of the key areas for which city governments are responsible, and taking this step will make cities cleaner, healthier, more resilient, create better jobs and reduce 1 million tonnes of methane emissions each year. We hope these pioneer C40 mayors will provide inspiration to Global South cities across the world who are looking to slash pollution while creating better jobs and improving public health.”

Buenos  Aires  Mayor  Horacio  Rodríguez  Larreta  said:  “To  lead  the  way  towards  the reduction and proper management of waste together with other cities in the world is a great opportunity for concrete action in the fight against climate change. Urban waste is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and its correct management is one of the greatest challenges that cities face on a daily basis. With such measures, our cities will be cleaner, healthier, more resilient and more inclusive.”

Global network

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global

The current Chair of C40 is Mayor of London Sadiq Khan; and three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the Board.

C40’s work is made possible by  three strategic funders: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and Realdania.