Solid Waste Management and Social Inclusion of Wastepickers: Opportunities and Challenges
by Marta Marello and Ann Helwege
As informal workers, wastepickers gather recyclable material without adequate social benefits and occupational protection. In response to wastepicker demands for legalization and access to the waste stream, cities have created inclusion programs to improve livelihoods and promote recycling. While inclusion yields benefits for many participants, it brings challenges at each step of development. In the poorest countries, workers lack the skills, capital, and managerial experience to operate profitably, while projects in wealthier cities employ few wastepickers and face stiff competition from the formal sector. The most sophisticated municipal systems mechanize waste processing and threaten wastepickers’ livelihoods because capital-intensive methods yield few jobs. To realize genuine inclusion, policies to support wastepickers must enable workers to compete throughout the broader economy.
