Background: In Mozambique, the number of people residing in urban areas has tremendously increased, from 3.3 million in 1990 to over 10 million in 2017. This rapid urbanisation, combined with increasing economic activity, has led to a substantial growth of waste volumes. It is estimated that Mozambique generates at least 4.2 million tons of waste per year. Reportedly, an estimated 40-60% of the waste is collected, although in practice, collection rates might be lower (20-30%). Over 98-99% of the collected waste is disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsites with the remaining 1-2% being reused/recycled through informal networks.
Approach to Transformational Change: The project “Mozambique – Sustainable Waste Management: Laying the Foundations for a Circular Economy”, will support the government of Mozambique in addressing the challenges associated with municipal solid waste management (MSWM) through the implementation of a comprehensive and ambitious Programme for Sustainable Waste Management (ProSWM) with the final aim of building a circular economy.
The target group of the project will be municipal governments. Through a so-called “dedicated Technical Assistance Window”, the project will provide technical support to the preparation activities for setting up MSWM infrastructure, institutional capacity building and awareness raising. The envisioned set of waste treatment solutions (Integrated Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities) would include sanitary landfill sites with landfill gas capturing, Material Recovery Facilities and composting units.
The project will offer several financial instruments such as CAPEX grants, result-based financing and value chain subsidies to promote investments in Integrated Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities and value chain activities in a few pre-selected municipalities. In addition, support will also be provided to waste value chain activities in the greater urban area of the capital Maputo and Matola. It is expected that the initiative will be co-financed by the Mozambican government contributing MZN 700 million (approx. EUR 8 million) to the construction of MSWM infrastructure and will utilise incomes from a to-be-introduced Environmental Tax on Packaging (ETP).
Mitigation potential: ProSWM is expected to achieve direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of about 142,000 tons CO2e by the end of the project translating into more than 6.4 million tons CO2e over the technology lifetime.
