When you step into the municipal markets of Panama City, you don’t just encounter vendors and produce—you encounter the beating heart of the city’s food system. These markets are more than trading hubs. They are living laboratories where culture, food, and community converge. They are also places where new solutions to one of Panama’s most pressing challenges—waste—are being born.
A Pilot That Became a Movement
“Every day this market generates about 2.5 tons of waste,” explains Hernan Correa, founder of Fundación Rescate de Alimentos, an NGO that rescues over 150 pounds of produce daily to prepare nutritious meals for the community. “But much of it is not waste—it’s food still good for human consumption.” In a country where 400,000 people eat only once a day and 5.6% of the population lacks sufficient access to food, these efforts expose the paradox of waste and hunger living side by side.
What began as a grassroots effort by Fundación Rescate de Alimentos has since evolved into a pilot led by UNDP, supported by FAO, and seeded by the UN Joint SDG Fund. Under the banner Sustainable Transformation of Municipal Markets in Panama: Circular Economy and Zero Waste, the initiative is reimagining markets as spaces where waste is turned into value—recovering, recycling, and reinvesting back into the community. Local farmers’ markets, which are the third largest source of waste in the country, have become strategic sites for change, where the fight against food loss is directly linked to the fight against malnutrition.
Circular Economy in Action
The programme has set ambitious goals. It aims to reduce organic waste sent to landfills by 10% each month, while producing 150 kilos of compost per month from market waste. At the same time, it is working to ensure that at least a quarter of vendors and citizens adopt recycling and composting practices. Beyond waste management, it seeks to build a culture of sustainable gastronomy—turning markets into spaces where people can learn, taste, and connect with the history and culture of local produce.
At the San Felipe Neri market—the first pilot site—vendors and NGOs like Fundación Rescate de Alimentos are showing how collaboration can reshape urban food systems. “We are not just reducing waste,” says Anibal Cardenas, part of the municipal markets project team. “We are strengthening communities, rescuing food for families, and bringing circular economy principles into the daily lives of Panamanians.”
Beyond the Market Stalls
The transformation is not only technical—it’s cultural. Markets are being reimagined as epicenters of social cohesion, places where citizens encounter sustainability in action.
From composting workshops, masterclass series like “del mercado a tu cocina” to exhibitions like Picante, the project blends education, gastronomy, and innovation.
The initiative also connects to Panama’s national climate and zero-waste strategies, embedding circular economy practices into policy. With support from UNDP, FAO, and local institutions, new governance models and financial incentives are being tested to ensure long-term sustainability.
Why It Matters
Behind the stalls and produce baskets lies a bigger story: how communities can turn systemic challenges into opportunities. In a city where nearly half of landfill volume is organic waste, this programme shows how local action can deliver global results—advancing SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
As the pilot grows into a movement, Panama’s municipal markets are not only feeding the city—they are nourishing a vision of resilience, solidarity, and circular futures.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and our private sector funding partners, for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
