Clean Cities, Blue Ocean Dominican Republic Fact Sheet

The Dominican Republic is one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, but solid waste management systems must be strengthened across the country to enable continued growth and address mounting environmental, economic, and human impacts that have resulted from the island’s growing waste volumes and insufficient waste infrastructure. The tide, however, has begun to change. In 2020, the country’s first national solid waste management law was passed, marking a critical shift to a more robust waste management system that can reduce ocean plastic leakage, reduce related climate change-fueling emissions, and preserve the country’s environmental resources. And, in early 2021, a Presidential Decree ordered the closure of several of the heaviest polluting open dumps in the country.

USAID’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO) program is supporting the Dominican Republic in this transition, working at the national and local levels, in Samaná Province.