On Wednesday October 6, 2021, Bert Keesman of MetaSus presented his paper on the "Maturity Matrix for Waste and Circular Economy applied in eight countries of Latin America" at the ISWA World Congress on Waste Management in Athens, Greece. The abstract is included below.

ABSTRACT

The waste management sector at a local, national or regional scale tends to develop along clearly recognizable milestones. The first milestone is when waste actually gets collected, another one is the emergence of recycling activities, yet another one is the implementation of EPR systems, etc. For anyone planning to interact with the sector, be it as a salesperson of products or services, an NGO working on awareness building or a governmental agency prioritizing improvement actions, it is important to know the stage of development of the waste/CE sector. This is where the “Maturity Matrix for Waste and Circular Economy” (MMWCE) comes in. It was developed as part of a market study on waste/CE in eight countries of Latin America. It contains general country indicators, plus quantitative and qualitative indicators on the waste/CE sector. The MMWCE was applied to Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. The results offer a user-friendly insight in the stage of development of the waste/CE sector. If one wishes to work on EPR systems in Latin America, Chile and Colombia already have a strong foundation. Chile is advanced in creating public awareness, maybe other countries can benefit. And Ecuador needs support in financing the waste system and in information management. Such conclusions can be drawn through one glimpse at the MMWCE bar charts. No doubt the Maturity Matrix can still be improved. Suggestions for version 2:0 are welcome.

Click here to download the full paper.