Delterra

Delterra is an independent environmental nonprofit working with governments, communities, waste workers, waste-management organizations, and private companies to build more circular material systems. Its mission is to redesign human systems for the good of people and the planet by developing practical, scalable responses to complex environmental challenges. The organization’s work currently focuses on waste management, recycling, and keeping materials in productive use.

The organization takes a system-wide approach, working across the waste value chain rather than addressing collection or recycling in isolation. With cities and communities, Delterra helps design and strengthen waste-management and recycling systems to improve the quality and quantity of recovered materials. With industry, it works to develop markets, demand, processing capacity, and more transparent material flows. Its approach is tailored to local needs and conditions.

Delterra’s programs have included work in Indonesia and Latin America, including Argentina and Brazil, and the organization describes North America as a newer part of its regional work. In Indonesia, the organization has worked with villages in Bali on waste-management and recycling systems, and has supported the scaling of an organic-waste facility. In Argentina, its work began with a pilot in Barrio Mugica in Buenos Aires and later expanded to Olavarría. Its Brazil work has included assessing municipal waste systems and piloting approaches to increase recycling of flexible plastics.

Its projects involve local partners and stakeholders, including municipal governments, residents, waste workers, cooperatives, nongovernmental organizations, and private-sector companies. Delterra’s stated approach is to test and adapt solutions on the ground with local collaborators, then use what it learns to develop models that can be applied more widely. The organization says it aims to support systems that are inclusive, economically viable, and capable of sustained operation.

Delterra also works on the demand side of circular material systems. Its activities include collaborating with companies and other market participants to develop uses and end markets for recovered materials, including plastics and organics. The organization describes its goal as aligning incentives across a system so municipalities can provide effective services, recyclers can operate viable businesses, and manufacturers can use recycled materials with confidence.

Delterra was founded by McKinsey & Company and is described by the organization as an independent environmental NGO incubated by the firm. Its materials identify 2018 as the start of its work in Indonesia; an introductory Delterra booklet describes the nonprofit as founded in 2018. Delterra is a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity. Its stated working principles include practical problem-solving, partnership, an inclusive approach, attention to the broader system, and analytical rigor.