GEF LAC Cities: Towards a Plastic Circular Economy at the City Level in LAC Countries: Regional Session on Upstream Solutions Good Practices on Upstream Innovations and Solutions to Eliminate, Reduce and Reuse

The Regional Session on Upstream Good Practices explores how upstream interventions can prevent plastic pollution before waste is generated by redesigning products, packaging, and business models through circular economy principles. The presentation introduces key concepts such as circular design, reduction, reuse, refill, substitution, recyclability, recycled content, and circular business models, emphasizing that the most effective way to tackle plastic pollution is by preventing unnecessary materials from entering the market in the first place. It highlights practical design strategies—including reducing material use, designing products for reuse and recycling, incorporating recycled content, and carefully evaluating alternative materials based on local contexts and available infrastructure. The session also examines enabling conditions for circular innovation, including supportive public policies, financing mechanisms, green chemistry, and collaboration between governments, businesses, academia, and civil society to accelerate the transition toward sustainable production and consumption systems.