Recycle Organics Rallies Global Partners to Scale Methane Action
National and local representatives, technical experts and global partners came together in Brazil to chart the next phase of waste-sector climate action.
As the new year begins, attention is shifting toward actions that can deliver near-term climate benefits. Reducing powerful greenhouse gases like methane offers a critical opportunity for quick and meaningful mitigation, particularly by moving beyond pledges to practical solutions in high-impact sectors like waste.
While nearly 160 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, few have moved beyond commitments to implement sector-specific solutions. The message remains clear: with the world now on course to exceed the 1.5°C limit, underrepresented sectors such as waste must move higher on the climate agenda. Addressing waste is still one of the most overlooked opportunities to deliver rapid, cost-effective climate benefits, especially in countries across the Global South where organic waste makes up most of the municipal solid waste stream.
Against this backdrop, Recycle Organics (RO) convened national and local representatives, technical experts and global partners in Florianópolis, Brazil, for a regional workshop focused on advancing methane mitigation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through organic waste solutions.
The event, co-led by CCAP and ImplementaSur with support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), brought together leaders from the program’s current beneficiary island nations it supports, including Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Lucia and Samoa. The workshop served both as an opportunity to celebrate nearly four years of progress across these countries and as a forum to chart the path forward.
Here are some examples of the Program’s impact so far:
- A total of nine policy and planning instruments for organic waste have been developed, including four designed for subnational governments in Belize. In Fiji, these instruments informed the development and quantification of methane-specific targets under the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0, with support from the RO Program.
- The Program will provide 3,100 composting kits to individuals and schools by the end of 2026, further empowering communities.
- +3,000 people have already benefited from capacity-building events, attending international workshops, webinars and training sessions.
- Educational networks continue to foster valuable knowledge exchange by connecting a diverse range of stakeholders in each country. Examples include a hospitality-sector network with 22 hotels from 12 countries actively participating, and a municipal government network in Belize, where all towns and cities have joined and four have received direct support to develop local organic waste management plans.
“The Climate and Clean Air Coalition in partnership with Recycle Organics is supporting efforts to strengthen organic waste management and reduce methane emissions,” said Donovan Storey, who spoke during the event in Brazil and serves as a Waste Expert for the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat. CCAC has supported multiple RO projects across the Global South, mainly in Latin America but also in Asia and Africa as well.
“By connecting national ambitions with local implementation, we are supporting governments and communities to turn climate commitments into practical actions that cut short-lived climate pollutants and advance broader climate goals,” Storey added.
Sights from Florianópolis
The workshop strengthened a growing regional network built over the past four years, nurturing collaboration, peer learning and knowledge sharing across island contexts. Participants highlighted the value of connecting directly with counterparts from other countries facing similar challenges and opportunities.
Through visiting local organic waste management initiatives at different scales—including centralized municipal facilities, hotels implementing farm-to-table systems, apartment complexes where every resident participates in composting and other community-driven composting sites—participants saw firsthand what’s possible when local innovation is supported by national and global collaboration.
Watch: Hear from Seon Hamer, a professor at the University of Guyana who discusses the value of south-south collaboration
Recycle Organics continues to act as a bridge between expanding technical capacities, building policy pathways and developing financing schemes to accelerate the implementation of innovative waste management initiatives to reduce methane emissions. To this extent, the workshop reaffirmed the power of collaboration in turning ideas into action.
Driving Climate Progress from the Ground Up
The final session of the workshop invited countries to look ahead—identifying short-, medium- and long-term priorities to scale organic waste diversion and methane mitigation. From expanding composting at the community level to integrating methane into national climate planning, each delegation outlined a roadmap grounded in their local context.
What stood out across all discussions was a shared focus on implementation and enabling frameworks. Participants emphasized the importance of decentralized, community-rooted actions like home composting programs, education campaigns and direct technical support for project development. At the same time, they discussed how policy and national level strategies are central to enable large-scale impact in the long term, aligned with global climate goals.
The workshop also highlighted how organic waste solutions can support countries in delivering their NDCs. By developing project pipelines, strengthening policies and providing capacity-building support, Recycle Organics is helping countries translate their climate targets into real, measurable outcomes.
Pledges have long been made, and the global consensus is clear: it’s time to accelerate real projects, strengthen partnerships and turn commitments into tangible success stories on the ground. Despite being responsible for nearly half of today’s current global warming, methane mitigation attracts just 2% of global climate finance—an alarming shortfall given its oversized impact. Recycle Organics is working to change this narrative.
Waste Isn’t Waste: Investing in Solutions That Deliver
Between 2017 and 2025, the Program has managed more than 12 projects across the Global South, mobilizing over USD $13.5 million to advance methane mitigation through the waste sector. Considering its current project portfolio transcending 25 countries, RO is poised to mitigate more than 31 million tons of CO₂e over the next 20 years and divert over 700,000 tons of organic waste from landfills each year.
Looking ahead, the Program aims to mobilize USD $5 million throughout 2026 to support project implementation across its expanding global network. With nearly $1m already secured for activities across the globe, efforts are now focused on growing the support for project portfolios already identified and scaling existing initiatives to maximize their impact.
Reflecting on the many successes across SIDS over the past four years, countries and partners are now working to implement the actions outlined in Florianópolis. As the Recycle Organics network continues to spread, so does the momentum for methane action rooted in local leadership, regional collaboration and scalable solutions.
To learn more about the Recycle Organics Program or explore partnership opportunities, please reach out to us here.