WE 2C promotes the environmentally sound management of wastes. Its domain of expertise is the design and implementation of operational strategies aiming at identifying solutions for protecting human health and the environment from the adverse effects of wastes. Through concrete actions, WE 2C mobilises public and private stakeholders to address specific issues together and will facilitate resolution of these issues. WE 2C mobilises partners through dialogue, cooperation or partnerships around the core concept of environmentally sound management of wastes to explore ways to optimise environmental benefits of sound practices.

Waste generation is becoming a major social, environmental and developmental issue. No one country has been successful in decoupling waste generation from economic growth. As a result, the world is producing more and more waste, while the efforts invested to deal with the current waste issues are not commensurate to the magnitude of the problem.

We are now faced with a planetary waste crisis. The main challenge is to reduce the quantity and hazardousness of waste generated nationally and globally. And to manage the wastes nonetheless produced in a way that protects human health and the environment. It calls for all actors to ensure that the collection, transport, treatment, recycling or disposal of wastes is carried out in a responsible, safe, and sound manner.

Currently, the vast majority of countries do not possess adequate infrastructure, capacity or institutional arrangements for managing wastes in an environmentally sound way. Furthermore, the increase in the globalisation of trade in wastes, with massive flows of used products, obsolete goods and end-of-life equipment, is aggravating an already serious worldwide situation.

Thus, there is a pressing need to design strategic and operational tools that would enable economic entrepreneurs, public institutions and local communities to pool resources and work together in domains that no one alone can master.