The challenge sought innovative solutions for the sustainable management of chemicals and hazardous waste in the Caribbean

The Innovation Lab of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Lab, announces the six proposals selected in the BlueTech for Waste Challenge that will contribute to the sustainable management of chemicals and hazardous waste in Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago. This challenge was launched in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in April 2022 to find innovative solutions to address the challenge of such waste, protect health and the environment, and manage the climate vulnerability of the Caribbean region.

Fifty proposals were submitted for implementation in nine of the twelve countries targeted by the challenge (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago). The initiatives focused on issues such as recycling used plastics and tires at the end of their useful life, electronic and electrical equipment, clean energy, and the recovery of industrial, organic, and municipal waste, among others. Applications were evaluated according to criteria based on the degree of innovation of the proposals, social and environmental impact, promotion of gender equity, the potential for scalability, financial sustainability, and the viability of their execution.

The selected proposals are:

• "Lithium Battery Reuse and Servicing Facility", a project of Aceleron Limited (Barbados)
• "Green Solvent for the Implementation of the Circular Economy Model in Plastic Packaging," a project of Nueva Vida para los Residuos (NUVI) and Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) (Dominican Republic)
• "Fuego del Sol Haiti Ultra-efficient Biomass Combustion", a project of Fuego del Sol (Haiti)
• "W2C: Waste to Cement", a project of Caribbean Cement Company Limited (Jamaica)
• "End-of-Life Tyre Recycling Facility", a project of an Ecoimpact Co. Limited (Trinidad and Tobago)
• "Close the Loop Caribbean," a project of Hello Green Products Limited and IAMovement (Trinidad and Tobago)

These six initiatives will develop their proposals and obtain financing and/or technical assistance to implement their projects, which will be provided by the IDB/IDB Lab and the GEF (except for Haiti and Jamaica, which will receive support from the IDB/IDB Lab). In addition, the selected organizations have already been included in the IDB Group's network of global innovators to promote the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and best practices, participate in relevant IDB Group events in the region and expand their contacts network.

About IDB Lab

IDB Lab is the innovation laboratory of the IDB Group, the leading source of development finance and know-how for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The purpose of IDB Lab is to drive innovation for inclusion in the region, by mobilizing financing, knowledge, and connections to test early-stage solutions with the potential to transform the lives of vulnerable populations affected by economic, social, and/or environmental factors. Since 1993 IDB Lab has approved more than US$ 2 billion in projects deployed across 26 LAC countries. www.idblab.org

About GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the Rio Earth Summit to address our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, it has provided more than US$ 21.7 billion in grants and mobilized an additional US$ 119 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 projects and programs. The GEF is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on enabling developing countries to invest in nature and supports the implementation of the main international conventions on the environment, in particular on biological diversity, climate change, chemicals, and desertification. It brings together 184 member governments, as well as civil society, international organizations, and private sector partners. www.thegef.org