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

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Waste Pickers

Policy makers and civil society are trying to solve this problem through something called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR. EPR holds companies more responsible for the impacts of what they produce by requiring them to finance, and often also manage, the recycling, reuse, or disposal of their products and packaging.

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.

EPR policies and practices are growing exponentially around the world, presenting both opportunities and threats to waste picker livelihoods.

Since 2018, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) as taken a deep look into EPR policies and voluntary practices around the world, concluding the EPR is largely threatening rather than supporting waste picker livelihoods. Our work has included the establishment of a work group which developed detailed case studies and briefs on the opportunities and risks that EPR poses to waste pickers, as well as global and local training for hundreds of waste pickers across all of the continents where the IAWP is active. This resulted in our official position on EPR, which we are using to influence EPR at local levels, as well as in global processes like the UN Plastics Treaty.

Visit EPR.globalrec.org

Case studies

See EPR website for all the case studies.

Events

  • Oregon’s Bottle Bill Webinar. EPR Series

    Webinar about Oregon's Bottle Bill: Opportunities and Challenges for Inclusive Waste Management. With the participation of Latrice Holloway, Barbie Weber, Rosalynn Greene, Taylor Cass Talbott and Chicago Crosby.

  • The Brazilian Model of Reverse Logistics. EPR Series

    The first in a series of case studies examining extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems in various locations around the world.

  • SWaCH’s Cooperative System for Multi-Layered Packaging. EPR Series

    This webinar, recorded on September 30th, 2021, discussed the second in a series of case studies examining extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems in various locations around the world and explored opportunities and challenges for waste pickers in EPR, with SWaCH’s Cooperative System for Multi-Layered Packaging. Panelists: Alok Gogate (Head-Operations, SWaCH Cooperative) Supriya Bhadakwad (Waste picker … Continue reading "SWaCH’s Cooperative System for Multi-Layered Packaging. EPR Series"

  • The Law of Packaging with Social Inclusion in Argentina by FACCYR. EPR Series

    Produced by the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers (Globalrec) and WIEGO, this series seeks to understand how the increasing adoption of EPR policies and systems around the world can threaten or enhance the livelihoods of informal waste pickers who have traditionally been key actors in the recycling and reuse of materials.