Sustainable solid waste management (SWM) is a challenge to most local and national governments in developing countries. The German Technical Cooperation Agency – GIZ has recently launched a 3-year program to develop pilot projects and guidance materials to fill specific gaps in the knowledge base on sustainable SWM. The study focusing on the delivery of waste management services (‘operator models’) has been commissioned to on ERM and Wasteaware.
Past experience has shown that there is no such thing as ‘a standard operator model’. Contexts in which the various solid waste management systems exist and operate vary diversely. The team will collect and analyse case study experiences in various low- and middle-income countries and different areas along the waste chain to identify what works under which circumstances.
The collected information are analysed in terms of the framework conditions in place, the services arrangements, management arrangements and money flows in place that together ensure service delivery. The results are presented in a ‘source book’ and in a “”guidance paper”” to assist decision-makers in selecting the most appropriate and efficient model (or mix of models) for service delivery in any particular local situation.