A major milestone was seemingly reached in late July with the registration of the 100th waste management project to the Circular Action Hub (CAH), an innovative platform launched 12 months ago by UK and Brazil based not-for-profit, BVRio.
The hub now contains 100 projects, from 40 countries, on 5 continents. Each of the 100 initiatives involved are providing important environmental waste recovery services and are displayed in this international showcase, aimed at connecting projects with funders.
A great example of the kinds of projects on the hub, the 100th project added was AACEAM Ambiental, an association with around 70 waste pickers which collects plastics from Amazon rivers and other natural areas, and sorts and recycles it. AACEAM operates in 5 municipalities around Manaus, Brazil, mainly using ferries, and processes some 600 tons of plastics per month. With further funding, the project aims to expand the activities to other municipalities, increasing, by up to 70%, the amounts collected and recycled.
Thierry Sanders, Director – Circular Action Hub, commented, “We are thrilled that Circular Action Hub has reached this milestone in just 12 months, especially given the challenges of launching during a global pandemic. This rapid growth has shown both the quantity and quality of locally run, scalable, solid waste management initiatives across the world, and gives companies interested in reducing their plastic, and other waste footprint, a broad choice of the kinds of projects they want to support, through the different financial mechanisms we have incorporated within the platform.”
Each of the 100 projects registered in the CAH has its own dedicated webpage. Companies interested in reducing their plastic and other waste footprint can browse the platform and select the project(s) they wish to support. The platform facilitates access to new finance through different mechanisms such as Impact investment, blended finance instruments, grants, 3RI’s Plastic Credits, and performance-based payments such as Circular Credits™.
Thierry Sanders continues: “With the platform now reaching this milestone, investors have lots of choice of projects to support, and an easy way of supporting them. We have already seen investment in several projects, but there is much more scope for the companies with the biggest responsibility for the production of recyclable materials, to directly fund these projects, which include some of the world’s poorest people clearing up the most polluted environments.”
One of the projects already benefiting from additional funding through the Circular Action Hub is Entreamigos, which works to empower intellectual, creative and reflective capacities and to develop environmental and cultural consciousness in San Pancho, Mexico, and includes community wide recycling programs, trash management programs, beach cleaning and tree planting projects.
Alessa Araiza, Coordinator of the Bahía Circular Project, commented: “The resources have served to improve the recycling process in the Bahía de Banderas area, dignify work and improve the quality of life of waste collectors, reduce the use of disposable plastics in tourist establishments and implement a circular credit mechanism, through a community network of waste collectors and recycling intermediaries that provide environmental services and a network of responsible businesses.”
The PREVENT Waste Alliance has provided funding to a number of projects on the hub. Elena Rabbow, PREVENT Secretariat commented, “The CAH platform is accessible and easy to use. Its strength is the variety and the broad geographic distribution of the projects that are available on it.”
Circular Action Hub also builds capacity and promotes innovation through the provision of information, facilitating knowledge sharing and the exchange of local solutions.
