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GGGI Laos Team held a stakeholder consultation workshop on the Decentralized Waste Collection Service

June 23, 2021, Vientiane, Lao PDR – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Lao PDR team in partnership with Vientiane City Office of Management and Service (VCOMS) held a full day consultation workshop on the Decentralized Waste Collection Service (DWSC).

The meeting was chaired by the Director General of VCOMS, Mr. Bounchanh Keosithamma and Waste Specialist, Ms. Shomi Kim, attended by various stakeholders including officials from the VCOMS headquarters and Sikottabong district, village authorities, technical staff from the municipal waste collection unit, and a representative of KOICA. The objectives of the workshop aimed at consulting with the key local stakeholders on the proposed design of the DWSC. Three options developed based on the route optimization, cost effectiveness and labor intensity were presented to the local stakeholders for their feedback. A map of collection routes with feeder points, technical specifications of primary collection trucks, source separation mechanisms, a new collection fee structure, payment mechanisms were introduced to the participants as essential tools for a successful pilot of the new system. Furthermore, operationalization of the integrated resource recovery center (IRRC) and the workplan of raising awareness campaign were discussed at the workshop.

The conceptualization of the DWSC was originated from city government’s ambition to achieve waste collection rate up to 100% by 2030. Due to inaccessible road conditions coupled with the high waste collection fee in Vientiane, the collection rate in the project areas remains less than 40 %. The DWCS, proposed as a solution to address this issue, is expected to improve access to adequate waste collection and disposal services as it deploys smaller collection trucks for primary door-to-door collection to ensure that waste collection trucks reach all areas in the project villages. This system also aims to increase source separation by introducing separate collection days for organic and inorganic matters from the municipal waste. The collected organic waste will be transported to the IRRC for composting.

“This project is significantly important and well aligned with city government’s vision as the DWCS will increase the waste collection rate and source separation. Moreover, the IRRC will enable us to turn organic waste into resources instead of dumping them at the uncontrolled landfill. We really appreciate the support from GGGI and KOICA on this meaningful project which will directly benefit the citizen of Vientiane Capital”, said Mr. Bounchanh Keosithamma, the General Director of VCOMS.

Participants expressed their appreciations to the excellent work carried out by the project team consisted of GGGI Laos, Water and Environment Engineering State Enterprise (WEE), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the National University of Laos. All participants actively provided suggestions and feedback on the most suitable option for the new system and implementation mechanisms. The village authorities expressed their full support for implementation of the DWCS through public awareness campaign and  education programs.

This workshop is conducted as part of the project titled “Wastewater and Solid Waste Treatment Capacity Building Project for City Environment Improvement in Lao PDR” and financially supported by KOICA.