WORM: Waste in humanitarian Operations: Reduction and Minimisation

Maria Besiou

Sarah Joseph

Waste in humanitarian Operations: Reduction and Minimisation (WORM)'s overall objective is designing guidelines and support actions for circular economy in the humanitarian sector. WORM focuses on two selected settings: field hospital deployments, and humanitarian livelihood programmes with a waste picking component. Across these settings, the project focuses on several crosscutting focus areas:
• the integration of bio-based technological innovation solutions in the humanitarian context,
• using procurement as a gatekeeper for waste avoidance, and gateway to integrate innovative solutions,
• improvements in waste management, and the use of less polluting waste treatment methods,
• a specific focus on the sustainable livelihoods of waste pickers, and
• policy development, advocacy and a heightened local awareness of improved waste management in the relevant local contexts.
Following a multi-actor approach, WORM brings together medical humanitarian organisations and humanitarian organisations with livelihood programmes with innovation and supplier clusters, procurement service providers, logistics service providers, waste management service providers and academic partners. WORM seeks to involve a myriad of different stakeholders in data collection and policy development, including but not limited to, humanitarian actors positioned in the field during an operation, local waste management companies, start-ups focusing on bio-based solutions, policymakers (both local and global), and research institutions. WORM includes partners from low- and middle-income countries (esp. Kenya, Viet Nam) since humanitarian operations are often implemented in these contexts. WORM will focus on these contexts in their local awareness campaigns for improved waste management.
The project will focus on two settings: field hospital deployments and humanitarian livelihood programs with a waste-picking component. CHORD and KLU will contribute to the project by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to measure and compare the environmental impacts associated with bio-based vs. conventional materials according to different production and waste management scenarios. This also includes analyzing current waste treatment options for different types of waste (e.g., hazardous vs. non-hazardous) based on different materials. CHORD and KLU will also work with project partners to develop a framework and sustainability criteria to evaluate products and support the goal of using procurement as a gatekeeper for waste avoidance and a gateway to integrate innovative solutions. Additionally, to gain a broader perspective, KLU and CHORD will also investigate the effects of bio-based solutions in the wider humanitarian context through a causal loop diagram (CLD) and work with partners to develop policy recommendations to support sustainable humanitarian livelihood programs (e.g., waste picking).