98 - Evaluating the economic and social impacts of empowering informal waste collectors: Key players in ocean plastics mitigation and the circular economy

Abstract Information: With global plastic production expected to triple in the next forty years, the informal waste sector is critical in defending the world against ocean plastic pollution. As many as 20 million people worldwide work in the informal waste sector and are responsible for over half of all plastic waste collected and recycled. However, despite their significant contributions, informal waste collectors (IWCs) are often overlooked and undervalued. IWCs regularly face stigma, unsafe working conditions, and even violence. They lack basic protections, access to financial and technical support, and safeguarding from the global effects of calamities such as COVID-19 and the climate crisis. Women waste collectors face additional obstacles—including discrimination and sexual harassment—to fully participate in the sector. It is imperative to empower and amplify their voices. USAID’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO) is the Agency’s flagship program to reduce ocean plastic pollution. The five-year, global program works in 10 rapidly urbanizing countries across the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions to build local capacity towards a circular economy, which minimizes waste and promotes a circular use of finite resources, and improve solid waste management systems (SWM) in areas at the heart of the global plastic pollution crisis. As part of this approach, the program empowers and builds the capacity of the informal sector, as key players in local circular economies. The program lies at the at the nexus of social, financial, and environmental returns on investment at multiple levels (e.g., national, sub-national and individual). A key element of a circular economy is an efficient, inclusive, and equitable informal waste sector. CCBO addresses this by implementing activities that empower IWCs and strengthen their role in the circular economy. This is done through developing IWC’s technical knowledge and business skills; building their agency and confidence, including trainings on interpersonal communication and gender-based violence; improving access to networks and key actors in the waste value chain (including other IWCs) so they can effectively and collectively improve their economic and social standings. To date, CCBO has empowered over 700 IWCs through technical, business, and empowerment trainings, awarded grants to establish or expand their waste-related businesses, and have continued monitoring to observe challenges, successes, and impacts(social, economic, and environmental). Identifying and telling the story of CCBO’s impacts, especially vis-a-vis the IWCs, requires more than just quantitative data but also rich narratives that highlight individual stories. Seemingly simple questions such as “what’s your monthly income?” can result in responses that shed light on the dynamic and unpredictable nature of their work. During this discussion, Set Oya, Senior MEL Manager for CCBO will share examples and lessons learned from CCBO activities with IWCs. The desired outcome of this session is for participants to have greater appreciation for the importance of IWCs, the nuances of sustainable SWM, and how empowering IWCs as leaders of growing circular economies can have social, economic, and environmental benefits. The session will also elicit comparable experiences from participants that can inform the presenter and other participants on evaluating activities involving the informal sector.