Making Blended Finance Work: Lessons From The Asia-Pacific Region

Semarang, 27 July 2022 - The G20 side event that is held in Semarang on 27th July 2022 discussed about “Making Blended Finance Work: Lessons From The Asia-Pacific Region”.

The event was divided into two sessions. The first session provided an overview of how blended finance is being used to advance development in the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on water, sanitation, and solid waste management. The second session featured a moderated discussion examining how blended finance has been applied to improve solid waste management in Indonesia through a U.S. government loan portfolio guarantee to Circulate Capital, which has in turn been able to invest in local waste management and recycling firms. Speakers shared key insights on the main challenges and success factors related to the expansion of the collection and recycling infrastructure.

During the panel discussion, Mr. Bhima Aries Diyanto, the CEO of PT Reciki Solusi Indonesia explained the opportunities and challenges of Reciki opportunities related to the expansion of waste management and recycling infrastructure in Indonesia.

The problems of Indonesia as he mentioned in the discussion was that less than 50% of total waste across Indonesia is collected by formal collection systems. Moreover, 99% of this waste is discarded to landfills, creating significant environmental problems and a missed economic opportunity.

He noted that despite the existing waste challenges, there are great opportunities to transform waste management models and create partnerships between local communities, governments and the private sector to adopt a zero-waste to landfill approach and advance the circular economy by capturing the value of materials that are collected.