INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WASTE PICKERS

The International Alliance of Waste Pickers is a union of waste picker organizations representing more than 460,000 workers across 34 countries
Supported by Logo WIEGO

Region

December 27, 2021


The Global Alliance of Waste Picker highlights of 2021 are the following:

Globalrec establishes a working group dedicated to understanding and developing resources for the role of waste pickers in EPR

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has the potential to benefit the environment and to generate decent work in waste management. But for the world’s 22 million informal waste workers, EPR can be harmful. Waste pickers manage 30-80% of the waste in many cities, but EPR is sometimes designed in ways that create barriers to the participation and recognition of waste pickers in the system.

For that reason, in 2018, the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers, with support from WIEGO, established a working group dedicated to understanding and developing resources for the role of waste pickers in EPR — official EPR positions, educative materials, webinars, case studies and more. These resources are shared on their new EPR dedicated website, which is updated as new content is finalized. The working group is composed of waste pickers, organizers, technical experts, policy advisors, and academicians connected to waste picker organizations across five continents.

All the available information is available at EPR.globalrec.org.

We are delighted to inform you that our long-awaited position on Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) is finally ready to go public. In October, Global Rec’s Advisory Committee approved the EPR position as the official position of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers. To amplify our collective voice on EPR, we invite organizations of Global Rec as well as allies to endorse this position by January 28th, 2022. Your organization can endorse the position by writing to the following email: info@globalrec.org. Please include the name of your organization, city and country, as well as your organization’s logo if one exists.  Read the EPR position.

Globalrec creates a Global Advisory Committee to address challenges during the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic made us physically separated, but we Globalrec’s members were able to work together virtually, as we formed our first Global Advisory Committee.
Created to address the challenges that the world of waste pickers faced during the pandemic, the Committee was formed in April 2020, and, since then, has held meetings every month, following the struggles and victories from different regions of the world.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Inclusive Recycling: Methodology & Calculator Tool

In 2021, GlobalRec with the support of WIEGO launched a methodology and calculator tool that enables the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions that waste picker groups prevent. The tool, which was developed for waste picker organizations and their supporters, allows for the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions avoided through the following waste treatment methods: diversion of waste from decay in landfills and dumps; recycling; manual sorting and transportation; and diversion of materials from open burning.

The Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Inclusive Recycling methodology was commissioned by WIEGO for the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers as part of the Reducing Waste in Coastal Cities project, which is funded by Sida.

Use the Greenhouse Emissions Calculator.