Under the Asia Regional Environmental Technology Cooperation project framework of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO), Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China, ICLEI supported FECO in conducting one Indian Environmental Industry Research Report, and two Environmental Industry Research Report Solid Waste and Wastewater Management Systems in the Philippines and Indonesia respectively.

CLEI acted as the coordinator of all activities under this service agreement with FECO, and facilitated planning and implementation of the research projects with the engagement of ICLEI South Asia and ICLEI Southeast Asia. Three research reports were prepared as deliverables of the project and submitted to FECO, as guidance documents for Chinese’s environmental enterprises endeavor to engage with the Indian environmental management market, and solid waste and wastewater management in Indonesia and the Philippines. Through this project, ICLEI supported strengthening the cooperation between local governments and the private sector in the region on environmental industry and technology, in exploring possible solutions to the challenges of sustainable development cities are facing.

ICLEI’s ‘Holistic strategy and action plan for plastic waste management in GHMC’ will act as a guideline for various stakeholders for reducing the use of plastic waste in the city with the focus of making the city single-use plastic free by 2022.

The project also includes design and implementation of a pilot project and dissemination of policy implications by developing guidelines for plastic waste management which can be used as a model case for development of state level plastic waste management policy. The experience will later be shared with central government ministries and other stakeholders to consider as a model for implementing national guidelines on plastic waste management.

ICLEI is in charge of making a review on barriers and opportunities for the development of bio-based value chains; identifying stakeholders and expected benefits from mutual learning; mapping bio-based products (applications) based on stakeholders’ interests; creating guidelines for the BIOVoices Mobilisation and Mutual Learning approach; engaging the plurality of voices through creation of the BIOVOICES community and establishing a mechanism for communication of their needs, through the methodological approach for Mobilisation and Mutual Learning (MML) workshops; creating the on line BIOVoices social platform and on line mutual learning activities; co-designing of the BIOVoices social platform and organising a series of European, National and Regional MML co-creation events. All of these actions will promote the dialogue among civil society, business, policy makers and researchers as well as develop a common understanding of the different needs and possible solutions and produce policy briefs in order to increase the societal confidence related to bio-based products and industries.

To support NGOs in their GPP-related work as well as to strengthen the European network of NGOs, ICLEI organized several activities and produced guidance documents for NGOs. The activities included workshops and training sessions on GPP, the legal framework, practical dimensions, and good practice case studies. The training sessions also covered topics such as ecolabels, green energy, food and catering and forest products. In addition, a series of webinars tailored to the needs of NGOs was organized. As a result of the project, the 17 participating NGOs are well equipped to support their local and regional authorities in implementing GPP.

The project analyzed current strategies for waste prevention and management and assessed how they contribute towards resilience and resource efficiency. UrbanWINS developed and tested methods for designing and implementing eco-innovative strategic plans for waste prevention and management in 8 pilot cities. The strategic plans were created in a citizen engagement process and resulted in three pilot actions in each city. As part of UrbanWINS, the CityMatch program offered staff exchanges between waste management department of different cities to create cross-regional learning and exchanges.

ICLEI supported the UrbanWINS project with activities to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing between public authorities from different parts of the project’s regions as well as to carry out mutual benchmarking exercises and evaluation; a series of webinars; an online toolkit; and news aggregation from the sector.

ICLEI developed a detailed and agile dissemination, communication and awareness plan at the beginning of the project, being periodically updated and deployed along the project life cycle (e.g. Updates of social media, website, newsletter, and other promotional opportunities, Creation of dissemination materials like leaflets, posters, templates, business cards etc.. The aim of this activity was to reach the widest possible community through various channels and instruments. Besides it helped assure alignment and synergies with other international initiatives related to plastic waste recovery solutions and technologies, and provided training for the professionals and staff working with these solutions and technologies.

Within this project ICLEI accelerates knowledge transfer and dialogue and raise awareness of innovative public procurement in the field of Education and Technology Enhanced Learning across Europe. Specifically, ICLEI support by setting up a European follower group of cities/public procurers interested in the LEA project and technologies.

With support from the Korea Environmental Corporation and the World Bank, ICLEI is supporting the cities of Dharamshala and Kullu-Manali in Himachal Pradesh in the preparation of solid waste management strategies and action plans, as a pilot to improve integrated solid waste management for the mountainous regions of Pakistan, India, and Nepal. The project supports these cities to collect data for solid waste management, conduct surveys and waste quantification and characterisation studies, and finally, provide inputs to waste management strategies for mountainous regions. In order to improve solid waste management in the region, the project aims to analyze current solid waste management in the mountainous regions of Pakistan, India and Nepal, provide suggestions on integrated strategies and models for each country, and to develop guidelines for sustainable solid waste management in the region.

The Circular PP project studies the current state of knowledge on circular public procurement in the Baltic sea region, builds capacity on circular procurement among relevant stakeholders, and delivers and implements pilot procurement programs. ICLEI provides mentoring services to the city of Aalborg in the implementation of two circular procurement pilots, as well as project management and communication support. As a result of this process, the city of Aalborg, along with the other public authorities that are part of the project, will pilot a circular tender process, showcasing how public authorities can leverage their purchasing power to push the economy towards more circularity.

ICLEI conducted Municipal Solid Waste Management Exposure Workshops for more than 100 urban local bodies and strengthened their institutional capacities towards collection, treatment, disposal and efficient management of various types and categories of waste. The project also developed training modules, identified external experts and facilitated site visits for participants from local governments. Five 3-day workshops were conducted at different locations as suggested by the National Institute of Urban Affairs. The workshops and site visits will help the municipal officials to develop an understanding of the commonly faced issues, challenges and constraints of managing municipal solid waste. The capacities of the municipal staff will be built to effectively execute municipal solid waste projects and plans as per the mandate of the revised Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.