The project is the second one in a program of World Bank lending to reduce plastic waste leakage in China, with an expansion of engagement to the under-served rural areas compared with the urban focus of phase one. The project will inform plastic waste management at the national level, strengthen subnational MSW institution towards better integrated rural-urban MSW management and service provision, through policy, technical, and knowledge assistance. The project will also invest in the improvements to below county-level MSW management systems (collection, transfer, sorting, recycling, treatment) in under-served rural areas, to enhance waste service delivery, plastic pollution control, and waste diversion from landfilling. Given the long-term demand and significant disparities in the China's vast rural areas, the success of the project will rely on the cross-departmental coordination by the provincial government, and the policy/technical dialogue between the national and subnational authorities to create an enabling and corrective environment for reform, experiment, and innovation.

To reduce plastic pollution from municipal solid waste in selected under-served rural areas of Shaanxi Province, improve provincial plastic waste management, and draw lessons on plastic waste management relevant at the national level.