Capacity building in integrated waste management in China

China is responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the world's largest emitter. A significant part of the emissions is due to the increasing amount of municipal waste, as the country is also one of the largest producers of waste. China's approach to waste management, which has often proved inadequate in the past, exacerbates the problem. To address these challenges and develop a robust strategy to reduce GHG emissions, China has made the promotion of the circular economy and low-carbon development a key priority and included them as concrete goals in its thirteenth five-year plan (FYP) for the period 2016-2020.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) was commissioned with the China Integrated Waste Management NAMA Support Project (NSP). The project aimed to promote sustainable and low-carbon development in waste management and demonstrate that integrated waste management can help promote national economic growth. As part of the project, five pilot municipalities – Suzhou, Taian, Xi'an, Lanzhou and Bengbu – were implementing concepts of integrated waste management (IWM). In addition to creating favourable political and financial framework conditions through policy advice and the mobilisation of the private sector, the strengthening of national and municipal capacities in the area of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) played an important role.

Under the leadership of adelphi, a team of waste experts ideveloped a comprehensive modular train-the-trainer (TtT) program for this purpose. The program aimed at Chinese stakeholders that are involved in the planning and implementation of municipal waste management at national and local levels. The training focused on (1) improving the know-how and technical understanding of the participants and (2) creating capacities to replicate the acquired knowledge in China. The goals were achieved by implementing  multi-week TtT program, consisting of a series of virtual seminars with experts from Europe, China and other Asian countries, technical presentations in China-wide conference as well as a series of workshops in China on Integrated Waste maangement .