Urban NEXUS Case Story: Waste Concern Pilot Project
“Cash for Trash”The Indonesian city of Dhaka produces thousands of tons of waste per day. While waste picking is an important source of income for many poor families in Dhaka, the unsanitary working conditions also put waste pickers’ health at risk. Dhaka’s Waste Concern (WC) project, an NGO, was founded to act as a bridge between previously siloed functions: it provides decentralized composting units as a source of income for slum dwellers, helps reduce risks associated with poor sanitation, and produces inexpensive bio-fertilizers for agriculture, thereby fostering resource efficiency and food security.
The Urban NEXUS project 2013-2014 was funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). ICLEI, as implementing partner of the Urban NEXUS project, is responsible for the content of this case story.