- Circular waste management can promote environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and new economic opportunities for cities.
- The $150 million program approved for Bogotá reflects this new generation of investments, with support from the IDB’s Too Good to Waste initiative.
- The initiative helps turn investment needs into bankable projects through technical assistance, institutional strengthening, and innovation to improve waste management and integrate it into the circular economy.
Solid waste management in Latin America and the Caribbean is undergoing a transformation. For decades, waste was addressed primarily as a collection and disposal challenge. Today, it has become a strategic development priority that connects financial sustainability, resilience, social inclusion, innovation, and new investment opportunities.
Bogotá is a clear example of this evolution. The recent approval by the IDB’s Executive Board of the Program for the Modernization of Circular Solid Waste Management and Fiscal Sustainability in Bogotá reflects a broader regional trend toward more ambitious and complex projects focused on sustainable waste management and the transition to circular economy models.
The $150 million operation is the first results-based loan in the water, sanitation, and solid waste sector and the IDB’s second subnational program without a sovereign guarantee. The project aims to improve the city’s environmental and fiscal sustainability, strengthen integrated waste management, and encourage private sector participation within a more circular model. It also seeks to contribute to the formalization and inclusion of informal waste pickers and migrant populations.
Bogotá is not an isolated case. Since 2020, the IDB’s solid waste portfolio has quadrupled compared with the previous five-year period, as IDB member countries have increasingly turned to financing to develop more strategic projects. This growth requires much more than infrastructure financing. It also means creating the enabling conditions for successful projects, strengthening the capacity of governments and operators, and incorporating innovation and reliable data to guide investment decisions.
In this context, the IDB Group’s Too Good to Waste (TGTW) initiative has become a key driver of this agenda. Established in 2023, it brings together technical assistance, financing, knowledge, and innovation to turn needs and opportunities into bankable projects, with a particular focus on the circular economy and reducing methane emissions reduction.
In just three years, the resources mobilized through TGTW have grown by 44%, reaching $5.75 million. These resources have helped structure 17 projects with potential investment exceeding $1 billion, creating opportunities for financing and scaling through the three windows of the IDB Group: IDB, IDB Invest, and IDB Lab.
Tools such as the Solid Waste and Circular Economy Hub, GIRSrating, and new artificial intelligence and geospatial analysis applications are improving available information and strengthening institutional capacity and decision-making. These efforts include the development of a model to detect final disposal sites in collaboration with Stanford University. Together, these tools are helping cities achieve and sustain results.
A central element of TGTW is its network of strategic partners that share this vision. The initiative was launched with support from the Global Methane Hub and AquaFund, the IDB’s multi-donor fund for water, sanitation, and solid waste.
In 2026, FEMSA joined this effort as a new partner, expanding private sector participation and bringing additional resources and expertise to the initiative. Its contribution will support technical cooperation linked to the Bogotá operation, strengthening the preparation of activities associated with the program while generating lessons and solutions that can be scaled up in other cities across the region.
These types of partnerships are particularly important for closing the technical, institutional, and financial gaps that limit the development of larger-scale projects in the sector.
The opportunity ahead is significant. The IDB’s identified 2026–2028 loan pipeline for solid waste and the circular economy exceeds $2.18 billion, reflecting both the scale of existing needs and the growing interest among countries and cities across the region.
Bogotá demonstrates that this transformation is already underway. The challenge now is to sustain this momentum and continue building a new generation of projects that turn waste into economic, environmental, and social opportunities for cities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The following video explores how this transformation will take shape in Bogotá and the solutions the program will promote to advance more circular and sustainable waste management.