Budget sheets and buy-in: financing community-based waste management in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Abstract

This paper details some of the difficulties in financing a community-based waste management (CBWM) project for the collection of waste in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It presents a series of financing scenarios based on several potential logistical arrangements. The financial variables investigated include labour costs and honorariums, collection fees, charges for secondary collection, land and equipment costs, and educational programmes. The case study illustrates how the loss of a political champion and a lack of cooperation by a private waste collection company derailed the financing of a CBWM project despite the presence of other favourable conditions for its success. The waste collection company's participation was fundamental to ensuring the affordability of secondary waste collection, and this one financial element greatly affected the feasibility of the entire system. The paper concludes that without buy-in and financial cooperation from all stakeholders, the best laid plans for CBWM (and the accompanying budget sheets) are rendered irrelevant.