The GIZ's Prevention of plastic waste in the Central America and Caribbean Sea (Circular Caribbean) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Mesoamerica) held the second webinar of the "Circular Caribbean Cities" campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the importance of preventing plastic waste pollution in the Caribbean Sea. The webinar took place on Monday 9th, in the framework of "Urban October", a global event organized by GIZ as an opportunity to encourage the debate on the challenges and opportunities posed by the rapid pace of change in our cities and towns.
Under the title "How do different actors in cities tackle the plastic problem with innovative ideas?", the organizers invited several speakers to share what solutions have been implemented in different countries. This webinar responds to the topic of the second phase of the Circular Caribbean Cities campaign.
Four cases were presented in which the role of each actor was highlighted. For example, to represent the municipal role, the Deputy Mayor of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Kenya Marie De León Columba presented the different initiatives that have been implemented in that municipality to address this problem.
Kachikoti Banda, Acting Operations Manager of the Lusaka Solid Waste Management Company in Zambia, shared the experience they have had in Lusaka, Zambia.
Teresa Calderón, Programme Officer for Freshwater and Solid Waste at WWF Mesoamerica, presented the Recíclalos initiative as an example of joint work between different partners in Guatemala that seeks to prevent solid waste pollution through circular economy actions.
In addition, Hortensia Robbins, Coordinator of the women's group Esperanza 2, presented the experience in the Garifuna community Río Esteban, in Balfate, Colón, Honduras. Together with the women's group, they set up a cleaning train, which consists of a route they established with a truck they acquired thanks to a small grants programme. The truck travels through the streets of the community, where the community members previously paid for the rubbish collection service and transports it to a landfill, where the plastic is separated and sold.
All the presentations were shared in an initial session that continued with the second part where working groups were held where participants from different countries discussed how they could adopt some of the lessons learned in the cases mentioned, according to their own context.
In January 2024, the third and final webinar will be held as part of this campaign, where the importance of taking immediate action to address the issue will be addressed. The second webinar and the shared materials are available at this link.
About the Circular Caribbean Cities campaign
The campaign is being implemented from May 2023 to March 2024 in the Dominican Republic, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, through social and digital media, with special emphasis on cities along the Atlantic coast. With this communication effort, the entities leading the campaign and their partners hope to call on different sectors such as central and municipal governments, private initiative, and civil society to get involved and take action.
The campaign is based on the premise that it is possible to prevent plastic waste from reaching the sea and polluting marine ecosystems in the Caribbean if different actions are taken at the city level and if all the sectors mentioned above participate.
Circular Caribbean Cities has three stages, each of which addresses a theme that will answer a question: the first stage will focus on how to address the problem adequately, illustrating the importance of implementing root solutions in an integrated manner; the second stage will answer the question "Who should participate in the solution?" and will focus on the role that each sector should assume; and the third stage, "When to address the problem?" will address the urgency of implementing solutions to prevent the problem from worsening.
More information about this campaign can be found at https://wwfca-apps.org/circularcaribbeancities/
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Press contact:
Heliana Medina
Communications expert
Plastic Waste Prevention in the Seas of Central America (Circular Caribbean Project)
heliana.medina@giz.de
María del Rosario Calderón
Senior Communications Officer
WWF Mesoamerica
rcalderon@wwfca.org
Under the title "How do different actors in cities tackle the plastic problem with innovative ideas?", the organizers invited several speakers to share what solutions have been implemented in different countries. This webinar responds to the topic of the second phase of the Circular Caribbean Cities campaign.
Four cases were presented in which the role of each actor was highlighted. For example, to represent the municipal role, the Deputy Mayor of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Kenya Marie De León Columba presented the different initiatives that have been implemented in that municipality to address this problem.
Kachikoti Banda, Acting Operations Manager of the Lusaka Solid Waste Management Company in Zambia, shared the experience they have had in Lusaka, Zambia.
Teresa Calderón, Programme Officer for Freshwater and Solid Waste at WWF Mesoamerica, presented the Recíclalos initiative as an example of joint work between different partners in Guatemala that seeks to prevent solid waste pollution through circular economy actions.
In addition, Hortensia Robbins, Coordinator of the women's group Esperanza 2, presented the experience in the Garifuna community Río Esteban, in Balfate, Colón, Honduras. Together with the women's group, they set up a cleaning train, which consists of a route they established with a truck they acquired thanks to a small grants programme. The truck travels through the streets of the community, where the community members previously paid for the rubbish collection service and transports it to a landfill, where the plastic is separated and sold.
All the presentations were shared in an initial session that continued with the second part where working groups were held where participants from different countries discussed how they could adopt some of the lessons learned in the cases mentioned, according to their own context.
In January 2024, the third and final webinar will be held as part of this campaign, where the importance of taking immediate action to address the issue will be addressed. The second webinar and the shared materials are available at this link.
About the Circular Caribbean Cities campaign
The campaign is being implemented from May 2023 to March 2024 in the Dominican Republic, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, through social and digital media, with special emphasis on cities along the Atlantic coast. With this communication effort, the entities leading the campaign and their partners hope to call on different sectors such as central and municipal governments, private initiative, and civil society to get involved and take action.
The campaign is based on the premise that it is possible to prevent plastic waste from reaching the sea and polluting marine ecosystems in the Caribbean if different actions are taken at the city level and if all the sectors mentioned above participate.
Circular Caribbean Cities has three stages, each of which addresses a theme that will answer a question: the first stage will focus on how to address the problem adequately, illustrating the importance of implementing root solutions in an integrated manner; the second stage will answer the question "Who should participate in the solution?" and will focus on the role that each sector should assume; and the third stage, "When to address the problem?" will address the urgency of implementing solutions to prevent the problem from worsening.
More information about this campaign can be found at https://wwfca-apps.org/circularcaribbeancities/
---
Press contact:
Heliana Medina
Communications expert
Plastic Waste Prevention in the Seas of Central America (Circular Caribbean Project)
heliana.medina@giz.de
María del Rosario Calderón
Senior Communications Officer
WWF Mesoamerica
rcalderon@wwfca.org
