Organization aims to formalize informal recyclers

The California-based Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) says it has helped form a not-for-profit organization called the Group of Friends of Waste Pickers (GFWP), making the announcement in Uruguay, where several government delegates and nongovernmental organization (NGO) representatives are meeting to discuss a global plastics treaty.

Although referred to by the NGOs as “waste pickers,” the individuals referred to are not seeking waste but instead acting as collectors of recyclable materials for which they are paid. This neighborhood and landfill effort also often is referred to as informal sector activity.

“This historic moment marks unprecedented recognition of the rights, skills, and importance of the informal waste sector; never before have countries formally committed to advocate on behalf of waste pickers in the context of international negotiations,” GAIA says.

The group says the Global Plastics Treaty under discussion is being designed to “be the first legally binding treaty to address plastic pollution, from extraction to disposal. The inclusion of waste pickers in the negotiations signals that countries are acknowledging the pivotal role that waste pickers play in creating solutions to the plastic crisis, and should therefore be recognized as key stakeholders in the treaty process.”

The new GFWP estimates between 12 and 56 million people work in the informal recycling sector globally, and “in many places their efforts account for almost all of the materials recycled in their municipalities.”

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the GFWP estimates the informal sector provides as much as 90 percent of the recyclable materials ultimately used by local industry or exported, yet only receives 5 percent of the profits. “Waste pickers often go unrecognized and/or compensated by their local governments, and work in undignified conditions,” GFWP says.

“The core demand of waste picker groups is to develop a just transition plan, which must include adequate compensation for services, opportunities for self-employment, a key role in the plastic value chain, entrepreneurship, and a role in the creation and implementation of policies to end the plastic crisis at a local and international level," according to the GFWP and its supporters.

“It is historic to see more than 19 countries aligning with the International Alliance of Waste Pickers with delegates who can politically influence decisions, guaranteeing the participation of waste pickers in the negotiation,” says Soledad Mella, president of the  National Association of Waste Pickers Chile (ANARCH). “Now, the biggest challenge is that the process is truly binding and that they take into account our demand, which is a just transition that guarantees the participation of waste pickers in the entire recycling chain and in every negotiation, and that the laws that will be implemented see waste pickers as a fundamental part of the recycling chain.”

Adja Mame Seyni Paye Diop, vice president of the Waste Pickers from Senegal, says, “What I expect from this treaty and this meeting is that people take our jobs into account. For me a just transition is having  alternative jobs to support our families when it comes time to close dump sites.”