Enabling Conditions for Scaling Up Solid Waste Management Financing: Case Studies in Indonesia and Brazil

The report finds that decentralized waste management models, such as community groups in Indonesia and waste picker cooperatives in Brazil, often exhibit greater cost efficiency and lower levelized costs of waste management (LCOW) than private or government operators. Despite this, public funding remains low and concentrated in large-scale projects, with organic waste management receiving only 1% (USD 20 million) of methane abatement finance in 2021/22. The analysis highlights that while these decentralized models provide significant co-benefits like job creation and emissions reduction, they face financial strain due to high labor dependency and a reliance on operational revenues for funding. The document recommends creating legal certainty for informal stakeholders and adopting holistic, multi-sectoral approaches to waste management to improve access to financing.

• Global methane abatement finance in the waste sector is heavily skewed toward large-scale projects, with waste-to-energy incinerators receiving 94% (USD 4.08 billion) in 2021/22, while organic waste management received only 1% (USD 20 million).
• Public budget allocations for waste management are low in both studied countries, with Brazil's municipal budgets allocating between 1.9% and 5.1% and Indonesia's allocating between 0.3% and 2.4%.
• Decentralized models, including community groups in Indonesia and waste picker cooperatives and home composting in Brazil, demonstrate higher cost efficiency and competitive levelized cost of waste management (LCOW) compared to private and government operators.
• In Indonesia, community groups had an LCOW of USD 28-63/tonne, whereas private operators ranged from USD 11-92/tonne and government operators from USD 49-59/tonne. In Brazil, home composting was the most efficient at USD 1.69-19.12/tonne, followed by waste picker cooperatives at USD 17.63-20.90/tonne, government facilities at USD 22.96-46.36/tonne, and private operators at USD 74.65-324.10/tonne.
• Labor is the primary operational expense for most waste management groups, accounting for 74% to 98% of costs in Indonesia and 48% to 90% in Brazil, except for home composting in Brazil.
• Community groups in Indonesia rely on a complex capital structure—49% private, 48% government, and 3% grants—but their operational funding is entirely dependent on operational revenues, leading to financial strain due to high labor costs and short-lived assets.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2025). Enabling Conditions for Scaling Up Solid Waste Management Financing: Case Studies in Indonesia and Brazil. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/enabling-conditions-for-scaling-up-solid-waste-management-financing-case-studies-in-indonesia-and-brazil/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Enabling Conditions for Scaling Up Solid Waste Management Financing: Case Studies in Indonesia and Brazil. 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/enabling-conditions-for-scaling-up-solid-waste-management-financing-case-studies-in-indonesia-and-brazil/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Enabling Conditions for Scaling Up Solid Waste Management Financing: Case Studies in Indonesia and Brazil |date=5 June 2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/enabling-conditions-for-scaling-up-solid-waste-management-financing-case-studies-in-indonesia-and-brazil/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2025enabling, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Enabling Conditions for Scaling Up Solid Waste Management Financing: Case Studies in Indonesia and Brazil}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/enabling-conditions-for-scaling-up-solid-waste-management-financing-case-studies-in-indonesia-and-brazil/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }