As part of ongoing efforts to protect the Tonle Sap Lake, residential waste collection services have been expanded into rural villages across Boribour district in Kampong Chhnang province.

Supported by iDE through the Waste Management Market Acceleration (WaMA) project, Lam Samnang, a local service provider, has successfully extended the services to more than 2,000 households, achieving a remarkable 400 per cent increase in his customer base in just the first six months of the project.

“This initiative aims to prevent tonnes of waste from reaching the Tonle Sap Lake, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve that is critical to Cambodia’s ecosystem,” explained iDECambodia.

The lake provides sustenance to over three million families, supplying 60 per cent of Cambodia’s protein intake. However, the area faces severe pollution as waste from surrounding communities is dumped into the lake, jeopardising both the environment and local livelihoods.

“To collect waste, clean the Tonle Sap, protect human health and keep trash out of the natural environment, it is critical that solid waste management (SWM) expands in rural areas to meet growing and urgent needs,” noted Tyler Kozole, water, sanitation and hygiene program director at iDE Cambodia.

According to the organisation, approximately 75 per cent of Cambodia’s population lives in rural areas, where waste collection services are largely absent.

With only four per cent of waste being recycled nationwide, many rural households resort to unsafe waste disposal practices such as burning, burying or open dumping. These methods exacerbate environmental damage and health risks, said iDECambodia.

This initiative aims to prevent tons of waste from reaching the Tonle Sap Lake. Supplied

According to a 2023 market study by iDE, a significant portion of rural households are willing to pay for waste collection services. Around 69 per cent of households surveyed expressed a willingness to pay 10,000 riel ($2.50) per month for such services.

Through its market-based approach, iDE has empowered Samnang to expand his waste collection services to these rural areas.

To ensure the expansion is financially viable and operationally efficient, iDE gathered key data, including customer mapping and payment tracking, and provided extensive training in record-keeping, customer management and financial tracking.

“To expand formalised waste collection services, it is critical to motivate households to pay for the service. So, we trained a team of sales agents to sell the service, educate the public and change household behaviour toward waste management,” said Kozole.

“At the same time, service providers must establish trust through reliable service provision, transparent pricing structure and efficient payment collection,” he added.

The WaMA project, co-funded by the EU, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and iDE’s Paul Polak Innovation Fund, aims to extend waste collection services to 3,000 rural households in Boribour district, with plans to scale to other provinces in the future.

iDE is actively mobilising resources to secure long-term support for sustainable waste management solutions that will improve health, livelihoods and dignity for Cambodian families, explained the organisation.