Background
Myanmar and the Bago Region suffer from waste management and pollution issues that cause environmental problems and societal risks, which are visible especially along the Bago River (pictured above). The Bago River runs through the Bago City area, the latter being a major contributer to the rivers’ waste flows and pollution. The Bago Waste project was, in response, developed with the aim to build capacity in Myanmar to tackle waste pollution from domestic and small-scale industrial sources. This is a three-year project (2020-2022), linked to the bilateral Myanmar-Norway Environmental Programme (2019-2023). The Bago Waste project builds on another project, the Integrated Water Resources Management Institution building and Training project phase I (IWRM I project), a collaboration with Watershed management Division Forest Department, MONREC (2015-2018), and it will be affiliated with the IWRM project phase II (2019-2023).
The Bago Waste project impact is to reduce the negative effects from waste pollution on the environment, with an emphasis on plastic pollution. Waste production will be estimated for Bago Region, institutional and organisational aspects of waste management explored at the Bago township level – using the township as a case for further upscaling and model sites cleaned and restored.
Project Aims and Objectives
The Bago River connects potential land-based waste contamination sources with the marine environment, which the Bago Waste project seeks to tackle through following outcomes:
- Improved waste management infrastructure and systems for waste management from land-based sources
- Waste cleaned up from selected rivers and (plastic) waste properly managed
- The private sector’s production, use, and responsible waste management
The Bago Waste project will:
- Develop a knowledge base and waste management strategies building on the current status of waste management in the Bago Township at different levels (domestic, public and private sector)
- Draw on best practices from other townships in Myanmar as well as from other countries.
- Identify existing waste management networks, mechanisms, and incentives
- Collaborate with Bago selected private sector actors, to establish waste management models that focus on plastic waste and recycling
- Support local models of promising actions and measures, including establishing demonstration sites, and evaluate their effectiveness.
Publications
Environmental Programme 