Shifting to Zero Waste Against Pollution (SWAP) Initiative

Provide a brief summary description of the project, including: (i) what is the problem and issues to be addressed? (ii) what are the project objectives, and if the project is intended to be transformative, how will this be achieved? iii), how will this be achieved (approach to deliver on objectives), and (iv) what are the GEBs and/or adaptation benefits, and other key expected results. The purpose of the summary is to provide a short, coherent summary for readers. (max. 250 words, approximately 1/2 page)



The proposed Shifting to Zero Waste Against Pollution (SWAP) Initiative aims to reduce chemical pollution in the value chain, and improve resource efficiency, by supporting pilot cities in emerging economies and Least Developed Countries towards a zero-waste vision in line with green chemistry, circular economy, and waste hierarchy principles for sustainable production and consumption. The comprehensive approach of the Initiative will be implemented in five cities: Freetown (Sierra Leone), Kocaeli (Türkiye), Montevideo (Uruguay), Tunis (Tunisia) and Tianjin (China). The Initiative foresees interventions to:

Enable conditions and coherent policies to promote integrated planning and programming at city level towards a long-term vision of zero waste and zero pollution.

Explore special and diverse legal, fiscal and financial steering instruments to promote sustainable investment and cost recovery to address the financial challenges for the transition to a zero-waste city.

Enhance sustainable production and consumption by encouraging the private sectors adopting BAT/BEP to eliminate harmful chemicals in products, promoting eco-design, sustainable consumption and services, building ecosystem from upstream to downstream for circularity of materials.

Make information and knowledge accessible for raising awareness to every key stakeholder in the key value chains including producers, retailers, consumers, citizens, waste workers through a whole-of-society approach.

Build global networks and partnerships on zero waste, provide policy and technical advice through its clearing house, facilitate knowledge sharing, and raise awareness across countries and regions.

Through its key interventions the Initiative will positively contribute to decouple economic activities from waste generation, increase resource efficiency, prevent pollutions of the solid wastes and harmful chemicals to land, water, and air, and generate significant and sustainable global environment benefits for the reduction of hazardous chemicals, greenhouse gas emissions, and protection of human health and ecosystem. The SWAP Initiative will be very closely related and seeking synergy with the following GEF-8 Integrated Programmes: Sustainable Cities, Supply Chain and Circular Solutions to Plastic Pollution.

The SWAP Project will directly benefit 4,902,665 people (2,476,271 women; 2,426,394 men) and will evidence results in the following Global Environmental Benefits: 7,052,000 metric tonnes of direct CO2e emissions avoided and 2,954,262 of indirect CO2e emissions avoided, 95,660 MT of POPs/Hg containing waste reduced and 1,042,000 MT of plastic waste avoided; 457 gTEQ avoided for a 10-year period.

Finally, it will influence from a global perspective, by providing useful insights into practical and effective solutions to inspire, replicate and scale-up in different urban contexts, leveraging transformative change in existing structures towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals for a healthy planet and healthy people. This in turn will positively impact to combat the Triple Planetary Crisis.