SICA: Preventing plastic waste in Central America and the Caribbean Sea

Context

Every year, 11 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the world’s oceans, contributing to the increasing destruction of marine ecosystems. This endangers the environment, biodiversity and human and animal health, as well as entire industries like fishing and tourism.

To preserve these ecosystems, it is essential to prevent plastic waste from entering the oceans.

At the same time, existing volumes of plastic waste must be reduced, and the circular economy must be promoted.

This requires appropriate legal frameworks and recycling systems. Plastics often end up in unsecured landfills. The private sector lacks the expertise required for integrated waste and environmental management. Furthermore, awareness needs to be raised in the private sector and society of the environmental impact of plastic waste.

Objective

The political, economic and social frameworks for preventing plastic waste from entering the Caribbean Sea have improved.

Approach

The regional programme implements activities in four areas:

• Promoting regional exchange
  The programme promotes regional exchange on challenges and solutions in the field of waste management and circular economy. Public and private actors use this to learn from each other and develop joint strategies.
• Strengthening the private sector
  The programme supports the development of new business models that improve the plastic waste footprint through innovative value chains.
• Implementing pilot projects
  In eight pilot projects, the programme supports the implementation of integrated plastic waste prevention measures in multi-stakeholder partnerships at local level and evaluates their effectiveness.
• Raising awareness in the public and the private sectors
  Through local, national and regional campaigns, and digital and analogue educational games, the programme raises awareness in civil society and the private sector to seek alternatives to plastics and reduce their own plastic consumption.

Last update: October 2023