Global Leaders Urged to Redirect Climate Finance Toward Community-Led Waste Solutions

• Municipal leaders, worker cooperatives, and civil society groups have adopted the Jakarta Declaration, calling for an end to funding for incinerators and a shift toward decentralized organic waste management.
• Despite massive amounts of climate finance, 94% of waste-sector funding is currently locked into capital-intensive incineration projects, with only 1% supporting organic waste and food rescue systems.
• Organic matter makes up 50% to 70% of municipal waste in Asia, acting as a primary source of methane in landfills; decentralized reduction is identified as a critical climate intervention.

The Failure of Centralized Disposal

• Centralized landfill systems have reached a breaking point, causing toxic fires, landslides, and health risks to waste workers and residents.
• Research from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) indicates that decentralized systems offer significant savings, such as USD 1.7 million annually in Bandung, Indonesia, through avoided transport and tipping fees.

Proven Models of Success

• Malabon City, Philippines: Allocates 19% of its waste budget to integrating workers, successfully diverting 100,000 kg of organic waste yearly.
• Hoi An, Vietnam: Partners with hotels and restaurants to process 200 kg of organic waste per person daily via composting and bioconversion.
• Pune, India: Employs 4,000 door-to-door workers to manage segregation, eliminating secondary transport and processing 25 tonnes of organic waste daily.
• San Fernando City, Philippines: Enforces source-separation and commercial food-waste monitoring, achieving an 89% waste diversion rate.
• Surakarta, Indonesia: A youth-led initiative redistributed 46 tonnes of surplus food in 2025, turning non-edible scraps into animal feed (black soldier flies).
• Bonyokwa, Tanzania: Successfully scaled a community-built sorting and education model across four major cities to replace centralized dumping.