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Lessons from community initiatives
Community-based financing based on voluntary mechanisms,
tourism revenue or the sale of recyclable materials (where possible)
are often more appropriate in remote mountain regions. It is difficult
to attract companies and state municipalities to invest in these areas
due to weak property rights, high service costs and poor banking
services. However, because community groups often lack access to
financing options, it is important to ensure ways of increasing the
incentive and capacity to self-manage and decrease waste.
Mechanisms such as cooperative funds – reserves of money,
managed by cooperative members – could be used to address
these challenges. Cooperative funds could be used for building
waste infrastructure, maintaining vehicles and subsidizing
incomes when prices of sellable waste are low (Achtell, 2013).
However, these often require access to public banks, which may
not exist in remote areas and the logistical arrangements for
accessing funds may be too complex.
Financial incentives such as grants for small-scale recycling or
composting projects could encourage other small-scale systems
on a wider scale. However, any financial allocations and their
payment criteria must be well defined and widely publicized
among community groups through information campaigns (Ali
and Snel, 1999).
There are potential pitfalls to community approaches including
organizations running over budget and being unable to pay
workers their full wage.There are also aspects of gender inequality
to be considered – jobs primarily done by women, such as
sorting and cleaning recyclables, are often undervalued and not
recognized as part of the waste system (GIZ, 2008). Consultations,
calculating full costs and transparent budgeting is necessary to
Household waste pickup, Kathmandu.
Photo
©
Wikimedia/Sigismund von Dobschütz