Youth-Led Solutions for Myanmar’s Waste Crisis Amid Political Instability
SRIc Insights By Emilia Khine
Youth in Myanmar are addressing the worsening waste crisis through grassroots efforts and circular economy solutions despite political instability.
Key Takeaways:
Myanmar’s waste crisis is worsening due to weak governance, unsegregated waste in landfills, and over-reliance on short-term solutions instead of sustainable plans.
Youth-led initiatives, such as Yangon’s first Repair Café, are pioneering circular economy solutions and reviving sustainable practices.
To build long-term resilience, awareness campaigns must move beyond elite spaces and engage grassroots communities despite political instability.
How do people define waste? In the Oxford dictionary, waste is defined as materials that are no longer needed or used and are thrown away. If we no longer use or want the things, we easily discard them. However, the problem is that we never realize that we are the ones who are accountable for waste pollution.
The solid waste problem is a global issue that both developed and developing countries face severely. Why do you think the world is trying to take urgent actions to reduce the global waste generation rate? The reasons are, first, when waste, especially hazardous chemicals and non-biodegradable materials like plastic or e-waste, is dumped into landfills without proper treatment, it leeches harmful substances into the soil. Second, leachate that drains from waste can seep into groundwater or flow into rivers and lakes. Third, methane gas from decomposing organic waste in landfills contributes to global warming. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and extreme weather. A poor waste management system weakens the balance of the entire ecosystem.
How developed countries address the waste issue
Developed countries find solutions in every possible way to reduce solid waste. Waste is generated at 0.74 Kg per person every day. On top of that, as cities become urbanized with rapid population growth, the World Bank estimates that waste generation will increase from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050. Styrofoam and plastic last at least 100 years and up to 1,000 years undecomposed. Since our world is limited in land management, imagine if single-use plastic and styrofoam containers cannot decompose for 1000 years, and we keep generating non-biodegradable waste, there will be no space in the world for us to set foot, eat microplastics, and live on the dumpsites.
A proper way to sort out the problem is to segregate waste into biodegradable, recyclable, non-recyclable, hazardous, etc. After adequate segregation, recyclables can be recycled, organic waste can be composted for organic fertilizer, and energy can be generated from incinerating non-recyclable waste. Recycling the recyclable waste can reduce pollution caused by incineration or landfill dumping. Composting organic waste, producing vermicompost, and worm tea enriches soil health. Another way is to implement black soldier fly (BSF) farms. BSF larvae can eat food scraps five times their body weight and be used as nutritious animal feed.
A Singapore-based biotechnology company named Entobel implemented the ASEAN’s largest BSF farm in Vietnam in 2015. Entobel saves 185,000 metric tons of food waste from the food industry and by-products from agriculture farms going to landfills every year. The Black Soldier Fly is the most beneficial insect in converting leftover food scraps, agricultural by-products, and animal manure into high-quality protein that can displace animal feed.
Waste Problem in An Urban City, Yangon
Yangon is the largest city of Myanmar, with a population of over 5 million people. As Yangon became the economic hub and more urbanized, students, workers, and migrants moved to Yangon for better education, job opportunities, and other reasons. Yangon produces over 4,000 tons of solid waste every day. All the solid waste disposed of by Yangon residents finally ends up in the six major landfill sites: Htein Bin, Dawei Chaung, Shwe Pyi Thar, Dala, Mingalardon, and Seik Gyi Khanaung-To. The most significant one is the Htein Bin Final Disposal Site, which was caused by the tragic fire in 2018, which lasted for three consecutive days. The Htein Bin fire was a wake-up call for Yangon's governing authorities and environmental activists, highlighting the severe consequences of poor waste management.
Both biodegradable organic waste and non-biodegradable waste materials, such as plastic, tin, and other waste, are dumped into the landfill without prior segregation. According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, methane gas emitted from landfills significantly exacerbates global warming potential by 28 times more than carbon dioxide over 100 years. On top of that, the leachate drain from the bottom of the landfill contaminates the soil and the underground water, resulting in liver and kidney damage, cancer, and congenital disabilities.
All landfill sites in Yangon were managed by the anaerobic method; hence, organic matter cannot decompose easily without oxygen, enhancing the methane emission to the atmosphere. In the intense heat of summer, the risk of fire outbreaks increases. After a desperate fire occurred in Htein Bin landfill in 2018, the UN-Habitat implemented a 4-year project for urgent improvement of Solid waste management in Yangon city, with funding from the Japanese Government and technical support from Fukuoka University. The project installed the Fukuoka (Semi-aerobic landfill ) method to reduce methane gas emission by installing ventilation pipes, allowing oxygen to reach the inner part of the dumpsite, which helps organic matter compost in a shorter time. Additionally, pipes with holes were laid at the base of the dumpsite to drain out and treat the leachate.
However, the Fukuoka method is not the ultimate solution we aim for. It is only a temporary measure to solve the open dumpsite problem. Our long-term goal is to achieve zero waste, which requires proper waste segregation: separating materials such as plastic, paper, organic, tin, electronic, etc, for effective recycling and resource recovery.
The Battle of Youth
Environmentalists, youth activists, and sustainability advocates are battling to reduce solid waste, raising awareness to segregate waste, and encouraging businesses to adopt circular economy practices. Youth activists especially play a pivotal role in addressing Myanmar's waste management challenges through advocacy, education, and community engagement.
“As Yangon's population grows, the waste disposal rate also increases. That’s why we need more landfill space for disposal. We should pay more attention to waste management. To reduce waste generation, we have to avoid buying unnecessary things and using single-use plastic, and reuse the materials instead of discarding them.’’ Ko Zin Min Htut, a founder of the ME TO Me project, shared his opinions on the waste management problem in Yangon. Moreover, it was found that 13% of the total solid waste discarded in Yangon was plastic waste.
Ko Zin Min Htut is currently contributing to running the first Repair Cafe in Myanmar in collaboration with Impact Hub Yangon and the Prevent Plastic+ organization. He said, “Saya Ko Kyaw Myat Soe, a founder of Impact Hub Yangon, and I met at a community engagement event where we discussed that we would like to promote a circular economy. The concept: repair plays a main role in the circular economy. Although Burmese people used to repair things in the past, the repair culture is disappearing today. People rarely repair and reuse them; they easily buy new ones instead of repairing them. That’s why we decided to launch a Repair cafe in Yangon. Surprisingly, our initiative was successful from the very first time. People brought their old clothes, broken coffee machines, and rice cookers, and repaired them with the help of the volunteer technicians.”
He also stated that the challenges they faced while running a repair cafe were that they needed more volunteers to repair several broken items. They warmly welcomed new repair volunteers interested in their initiative to create a more sustainable and better future.
He introduced the repair cafe Yangon, which was Myanmar's first repair cafe. The world’s first repair cafe was started in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in October 2009. But now, the Repair Café movement has spread to 40 countries, with more than 3,000 Repair Cafés worldwide. Repairing things can reduce waste and save the raw materials, natural resources, and energy needed to make new products. Hence, it helps cut carbon emissions and move us towards a circular economy.
To conclude, as Myanmar is a war-torn developing country, poor governance slows down sustainable development measures and interventions. They have stalled because nationwide public movements were successfully held in public areas before the political instability. Foreign-funded NGOs, local CSOs, and youth independent organizations are still trying to raise public awareness and mitigate the solid waste problem in Yangon. However, there remains a knowledge gap between youths and elders, educated and uneducated, elite and grassroots, since awareness activities can be organized online or at exclusive venues like the American Center, Goethe Institute, which ordinary people are intimidated to participate in. Thus, activists should consider alternative ways of organizing more inclusive community-based events in the country’s unstable political situation.
Emilia Khine is a Junior Research Fellow at the Sustainability Lab of the Shwetaungthagathu Reform Initiative Centre (SRIc). She is also currently interning at RecyGlo Myanmar, where she supports various environmental sustainability projects.
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