São Paulo has 883 street markets which generate 34,000 tonnes of organic waste per year. The municipality generates an additional 39,000 tonnes from tree and plant pruning.

A system of decentralised composting locations allows São Paulo to divert large amounts of organic waste from landfills and produce compost.

The composting facilities or ‘yards’ handle up to 50 tonnes of waste a day and, in 2018, were estimated to avoid about 1,920 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually. [1] As a result, compost from street markets is used in the maintenance of public spaces in the city. However, these maintenance activities were estimated not to be enough at the moment to absorb 100% of the compost production foreseen in the city’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan [2], so compost is also sometimes given away for free to visitors. The project also includes an urban garden programmes in which citizens are encouraged to grow their own food. [3]

Key learnings and co-benefits

The implementation of the project was one of piloting and careful upscaling. When experience with the first composing yard was positive, five more were opened. The capacity of these six yards is around 15,000 tons of organic waste per year. The objective is to have 17 operations composting yards by 2020 and, in future, to collect also organic waste from households. [4]

The composting yards have an educational purpose since they enable citizens to familiarise themselves with the process of composting and the importance of organic matter for food production. Composting facilities are regularly visited by schools, local authorities, and people interested in gardening and compost use. One of the facilities also has a plant nursery.

The initiative also has health benefits as waste collection at markets is improved, supported by special bags made available by the composition yards. The project creates employment since each composting yard employs 4 to 5 staff. Next to this, the centralised location of the yards close to the markets reduces waste logistics in the city, and from the markets to the landfill. [5]

Important lessons have been learned from the project. The quality of the compost is important to effectively use it as a soil enhancer for parks and food production. To produce compost of high quality, the feedstock needs to be clean. This requires educating the market staff to make sure there is proper source separation in place. The decision to realise small-scale composting facilities first allows for the local population to get closer to the production of compost. Other lessons learned relate to the low-tech nature of the solution. It did not require big investments and can be quickly deployed and scaled. [6]

[1] https://www.c40.org/case_studies/the-sustainable-street-markets-parks-project-from-organic-waste-to-a-high-quality-compost-resource

[3] [5] [6] https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/Cities100-Composting-waste-in-Sao-Paulo-to-boost-the-circular-economy?

[2] https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/strategy-organic-waste-diversion-collection-treatment-recycling-and-their-challenges-and

[4] https://www.urbanet.info/sao-paulo-brazil-organic-waste-management-2/

Case study source: Forthcoming Circle Economy publication, expected February 2021