Workshop on Best Practices to Promote Solid Waste Management in the Dominican Republic

Translated and cross posted from Diario Activo

The Dominican Republic Public-Private Trust for the Integral Management of Solid Waste; the United States Agency for International Development’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program; and the Dominican Municipal League held a workshop on Friday, January 20, 2023, with the aim of advancing a new vision for solid waste management in the country.

The workshop, organized by Clean Cities, Blue Ocean, included subject matter experts from the United States and Peru, who presented best practices and recommendations with a view to promote new concepts for solid waste management in the Dominican Republic. The organizing entities said that the workshop’s objectives also included providing support to the country’s ongoing mission to improve the administration and adequate control of solid waste at the national level and, at the same time, reduce ocean plastic pollution.

At the event, 28 Dominican mayors participated, under the sponsorship of the Dominican Municipal League, and was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Santo Domingo.

The workshop was led by Ginny Hensen, Clean Cities, Blue Ocean Country Director and President of Fundación Sostenibilidad 3Rs, and Armando Paíno Henríquez, Executive Director of the Public-Private Trust.

USAID and PROPEEP

USAID highlighted that since November 2020, it has supported the Government of the Dominican Republic in programs to improve solid waste management in Samaná province, including the remediation and closure of open-air dumps, the development of sanitary landfills, regional governance, and the implementation of improved solid waste management programs.

Since 2021, Clean Cities, Blue Ocean has provided technical assistance in the remediation of two of the four Samaná landfills in the Las Terrenas and Samaná municipalities, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Strategic and Special Projects of the Presidency (PROPEEP). USAID highlighted that this support and accompaniment has resulted in the safe management of more than 357,000 metric tons of waste, including more than 47,000 metric tons of plastic.

In addition, more than 62.4 million pounds of CO2 (equivalent to the annual emissions from burning 3.2 million gallons of gasoline) have been captured and community conditions have improved  for more than 85,000 people, including the informal waste workers who sort and manage waste at the two sites.

USAID reiterated that, together with the Dominican Municipal League and the Trust, it will continue to support the establishment of a new regional waste model in the municipalities, in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, PROPEEP, and members of the Cluster Tourist of the Province of Samaná.

USAID Clean CIties, Blue Ocean

USAID’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program, which will be implemented over five years with a budget of $53 million, was launched in August 2019 as the agency’s flagship program to respond to the global crisis of ocean plastic pollution. Through this program, the United States Government agency works in ten priority countries to attack ocean plastic pollution directly at its source.

The agency notes that in the Dominican Republic, the program aims to support the national government in advancing solid waste management to implement and test scalable waste and recycling solutions, addressing climate change through methane reduction activities.