Save Our Seas: Ecuador

Ecuador’s ocean plastics problem is both homegrown—overflowing solid waste that ends up untreated in rivers and flows to the sea—and the product of dumping that may take place hundreds or even thousands of miles away. It is a jarring intrusion to places as treasured as the Galapagos Islands and other formerly pristine beaches, where an estimated 60% of the garbage floating ashore consists of plastic.

Ecuador values its environment and has taken measures to address the growing plastics problem, including bottle bills and a law limiting the sale of single-use plastic. However, these efforts have not kept pace with ever-increasing plastic production and consumption. Municipalities’ solid waste management systems are largely inefficient and ecologically, socially, financially, and politically unsustainable. This leads to overflowing landfills—which in reality become dumpsites—high volumes of solid waste polluting waterways and oceans, poor working and economic conditions, and a lack of opportunities for informal waste collectors.

Under the Save our Seas Initiative, USAID has joined civil society organizations and business leaders in Ecuador to reduce plastic pollution in the Galápagos and Manabí provinces. The focus of this partnership is to improve integrated solid waste management systems, promote a circular economy, and strengthen existing waste management while at the same time creating business opportunities, engaging informal recyclers, and encouraging communities to reduce and classify waste appropriately.

Current Programs

Recycling, Adaptation, Development, Adjustment and Renewal (RADAR) (2024-2029)

The five-year USAID RADAR project aims to tackle plastic pollution in Ecuador’s Galápagos and Manabí provinces through the creation of integrated solid waste management systems and promotion of a circular economy. RADAR will not only work to address environmental aspects of plastic pollution, such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and the influx of pollution into oceans, but will also engage meaningfully with informal recyclers and communities at large. As such, the program emphasizes the human dimension of environmental efforts, highlighting the importance of addressing social and economic inequalities alongside environmental issues to create a more equitable and sustainable society. RADAR is being implemented by the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA) and will leverage partnership with the local enterprise, Emprender SAS.