Beyond Good Intentions and Idealism: Scalable Strategies for Enhancing Public Utility Services through Organics Recovery

Following my discussion paper at the 2022 Singapore ISWA Global Congress and my notes on the grim realities of the rigid plastics commodity crisis globally, I’ve compiled some sobering truths about the challenges of organic waste recovery in developing countries. These observations and arguments represent my personal opinions as a practitioner, investor, and passionate advocate of circular economy principles worldwide.

It is a safe assumption that organics comprise well over 50% of the waste characterization "basket" in any given city across the developing world. This reality naturally catches our attention. The argument follows: "If organics can be valorised or diverted from landfills, we can solve over half of a laundry list of problems—from methane abatement to landfill airspace planning." It’s a very attractive proposition.

Unfortunately, precedent demonstrates that, in an already volatile commodity market where a low-filler, transparent PET water bottle is king, residual organics from low-income neighbourhoods are nearly hopeless. Aside from the obvious unattractiveness of rendering municipal or private sector haulage services to extract organics in regions where waste generation per capita is commonly below 0.7 kg/capita and much value has already leaked to informal waste reclaimer activities—the inherent waste feedstock we’ve painstakingly gathered is not "wealth" after all.

Let’s be more optimistic, though. Assume that an impressive network of non-permanent and cost-effective waste transfer stations, supported by waste reclaimers, SME service providers, and community groups, exists, successfully extracting consistent feedstocks of organics for subsequent valorisation. Even so, in my experience, finding a corresponding market system is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Like plastics, the inconvenient truth is that meaningful organics valorisation—at quantities relevant to municipalities, national targets, and methane abatement pledges—isn’t about boutique upcycling pet projects or chasing the next big innovation. It’s about mustering the willpower to implement unglamorous, boring, but tried-and-tested methods of providing a cost-effective and scalable public utility service—approaches known for centuries. For organics valorisation, even still, this seldom translates into even a cost-share from the private sector.

Some proponents may argue that organics valorisation does have examples of success. BSF, biogas, AD, and vermicomposting projects continue to feature in local and international “innovation” events. Manure-derived fertilizers, animal feed, and decentralised composting models too, often have legs. And while sometimes successful, they are arguably the furthest precedent from a public utility service or scaled solution to the organics problem in question. High-quality outputs from BSF or manure-derived fertilizers don’t originate from municipal source separation programs in low-income neighbourhoods but from cherry-picked, opportunistic aggregations negotiated on a B2B basis—essential quality assurance standards that underpin investment and the razor-thin margins that environmental entrepreneurs often navigate.

While these entrepreneurs do indeed divert waste from landfills and reduce emissions, they are not macro-economic, municipal public utility service or PPP solutions. Their investments were not born from the insights or diligence associated with a waste characterization study or stakeholder forum but from the clever navigation of win-win business-to-business handshakes among a small selection of high-quality organic feedstock waste producers. Municipalities should support such projects, but they should not consider these entrepreneurs or their associated infrastructure as public assets or public utility service models capable of diverting meaningful waste volumes from landfills.

However, municipalities still have the opportunity to maximize the lion’s share of the waste characterization basket. By disregarding the perpetuated myth that "waste is wealth," municipalities in developing countries should focus on the in-kind savings of diverting organics from landfills. It’s about using existing budgets more effectively, rather than chasing new capital. For example, instead of pursuing challenging standards for carbon markets or high-grade compost importers—standards seldom achieved even by the private sector—the focus could shift to producing low-grade compost for non-food crops, tree nurseries, agribusiness or as filler in parks or landscaping. Even in the absence of an artificial subsidy (e.g. carbon credits) or the supporting pillars of an enabling environment (e.g. high landfill tipping fees, food waste to landfill bans) the scaled reuse of lightly processed organics within cities may prove more cost-effective than the implicit costs of long-distance haulage to suburban dumpsites, which are most likely nearing an airspace cliff edge.

It's time to move beyond idealistic narratives and confront the realities of organics waste management in developing countries. We need frank conversations about feasible feedstock control, land use planning, and the true economics of organics valorisation and dwindling landfill airspace. Only by acknowledging these hard truths can we develop sustainable, effective waste management solutions that go beyond good intentions and address the mounting global waste crisis.

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