We head to an environmental crisis frontline to understand the challenges, stigma, and working conditions of those battling a rising tide of plastic, and the steps being taken to mitigate this catastrophe and improve lives.
Today, on International Waste Picker Day, we celebrate the 20 million informal waste workers who make up 60% of the world’s recycling workforce. Primarily in the Global South, are on the frontline of our urgent fight against plastic pollution, giving them both vivid awareness of the problems and intimate knowledge of the solutions surrounding our plastic crisis.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, we cannot transform our relationship with plastic without them. Today and beyond, we must ensure their lives, livelihoods and expertise are front and centre in our fight against plastic pollution.
Predominantly found in regions which lack formal waste management systems yet remain a dumping ground for the Global North’s waste, these first collectors often supply the only form of waste collection in the region. They form a foundation of the recycled materials value chain, but they’re ghost workers – unrecognised, unprotected, and historically stigmatised and discriminated against by their communities – and that needs to change.
Despite their vital contribution to the green transition, informal waste workers operate in a largely unregulated industry and in addition to being at risk of forced labour and modern slavery, are often subject to low wages and significant health and safety risks. In some areas, child labour remains all too common. On International Waste Picker Day and, importantly, beyond, we need to acknowledge that such human rights violations are unacceptable in any sector, let alone one as crucial as collection and recycling.
Businesses have a pivotal role to play in transforming this landscape. Plastic packaging will remain a staple of our daily lives for some years to come but thankfully many companies are turning to recycled plastic to lessen their impacts. However, while this is a promising step forward, companies must ensure that their supply chains do not rely on exploitative labour practices. A point for change is the adoption of robust frameworks such as the Harmonized Responsible Sourcing Framework developed by the NGO, The Circulate Initiative.
Underpinned by the highest standards, it sets out exactly what the socially responsible sourcing of discarded plastic looks like. It’s all about working in partnership with informal waste collectors, focusing on their needs and protecting their rights and livelihoods.
At Prevented Ocean Plastic™, we have also adopted our own set of standards, which were developed following the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code and are informed by the Code of Good Practice developed by ISEAL. They go beyond regulatory and compliance measures to set an industry-leading standard to minimise environmental impact, improve worker conditions, and ensure quality products.
However, to stand the best chance of addressing the plastic crisis at a systematic level, we must go further and give these workers a seat at the table. As micro-entrepreneurs, waste collectors possess essential, on-the-ground knowledge of how plastic waste flows — from its point of origin to its final destination.
By actively involving them in decision-making and operational processes, we can better understand and address the complexities of plastic waste management. With the delayed UN Global Plastics Treaty now expected this year, policymakers need to hear and consult those most affected by plastic pollution. We must recognise that cleaning up our plastic problem is not just an environmental challenge – but a human one.
Our Prevented Ocean Plastic™ programme is a real-world example of what it means to put informal waste collectors at the heart of plastics recycling. We are building waste plastic collection centres on some of the coastlines most impacted by plastic pollution, in places that have never benefited from proper recycling infrastructure.
We’re committed to elevating conditions within our centres and we collaborate with local informal waste collectors, offering a fair price for their work, more transparent, consistent payment practices, so they can collect more of the plastic bottles that we give a second life.
We take an evidence-based approach to ensure we are continually going further to level up recycled plastic supply chains, and are proud to sponsor academic research, support original studies, and ask the tough questions. We’ve recently commissioned new research to study the lives and livelihoods of the first collector community in Indonesia to better understand the characteristics and diversity within the collector community, their collection practices, patterns and economics.
The study will be carried out across three separate islands of Indonesia, selected based on cultural diversity, programme importance and length of operation of the collection centres, over the next four months. The findings will allow for more precise tailoring of not just the Prevented Ocean Plastic™ programme but other programmes and policies which seek to maximise efficiency within the recycled plastics supply chain, and ultimately improve the socioeconomic circumstances of the collector community.
Let us commit to reshaping our recycling systems on this International Waste Picker Day. By celebrating, safeguarding and learning from those on the frontline, we can pave the way for a more sustainable and equitable future—one in which the true heroes of the plastics economy receive the support, dignity and respect they rightfully deserve.
Today, on International Waste Picker Day, we celebrate the 20 million informal waste workers who make up 60% of the world’s recycling workforce. These individuals, primarily based in the Global South, are on the frontline of our urgent fight against plastic pollution, giving them both vivid awareness of the problems and intimate knowledge of the solutions surrounding our plastic crisis.
Image: Brian Yurasits / Unsplash
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