- Southeast Asia is the source of over half of the world’s ocean plastic, due to inadequate waste management infrastructure in many emerging economies.
- Developing the waste management infrastructure needed to slow this worsening plastic pollution crisis will take time and resources, and until then, ‘informal’ workers like waste pickers will be crucial to the effort.
- “In the meantime, it’s clear that Asia’s informal waste workers are indispensable, and their rights and livelihoods must be protected and harnessed at a greater scale for the benefit of people and the planet,” a new op-ed states.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a waste worker from Binh Dinh, Vietnam, has worked in the waste collection industry for four decades. She has spent every day at the landfill – her home and source of income – since she was a child. Like many developing economies in the region, Vietnam has limited household waste separation. Informal workers like Thuy support 90% of plastics recycling in the country, separating materials by hand and delivering them to collection centers.
Southeast Asia is the source of over half of the world’s ocean plastic, due to inadequate waste management infrastructure in many emerging economies. But these rapidly developing markets also present huge potential for impact when it comes to the global fight against plastic pollution, and harnessing the informal workforce will be a central part of the solution. While a patchwork of solutions is emerging across Asia, greater collaboration between the public, private and nonprofit sectors can tap into this critical global workforce while also providing opportunities to protect livelihoods for informal workers on a much larger scale.
Thuy and her counterparts in other developing countries form a vast network of approximately 20 million workers who contribute to almost 60% of global plastics recycling. Despite the critical role they play, their contributions are often overlooked, and they endure deplorable conditions with inadequate pay, child labor, and health risks. But experience shows us that integrating informal workers, harnessing their specific skills and contributions, can result in more transparent and efficient value chains for recycled plastics in emerging markets, while also providing safe working conditions.
Indonesian and Indian ideas
A vast archipelago made up of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a prime example. Due to its geographical spread, formal waste collection in many of Indonesia’s coastal communities is difficult and expensive, and the informal economy plugs critical gaps in the ecosystem. The informal sector is the largest contributor of recycled plastics in Indonesia, consisting of an estimated two million waste workers, known as Pemulung, who collect, sort and deliver plastic waste directly from households to recycling facilities.
Indonesian plastic waste collection company Prevented Ocean Plastic Southeast Asia has created a unique supply chain model that leverages the deep local knowledge of these workers, as well as their valuable aggregator networks. Establishing a series of high-volume collection and aggregation centers in underserved coastal communities, the model streamlines logistics and pools collection volumes, maximizing efficiency while providing waste collectors with consistent income.
The model caught the attention of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which partnered with the company to launch a new aggregation center in the port city of Semarang, the first significant collection and recycling center in the region, which is home to over six million people. The venture created over 40 direct jobs and the capacity to collect 500 tons per month of high quality plastic materials for recycling.
Also Indonesia-based is the Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation (Mahija) founded by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Indonesia and Dynapack Asia, which is developing a circular model that mobilizes the informal workforce to scale waste management efforts. The venture plans to collaborate with 31 collection centers across the country and engage over 50,000 waste collectors, in an arrangement to exclusively supply the collected polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to recycling plant PT Amandina Bumi Nusantara. As part of the agreement, CCEP and Dynapack Asia have committed to purchase the recycled PET from Amandina for the next decade, ensuring consistent demand, which enables Mahija to invest in capacity-building, basic necessities, education and medical assistance for waste pickers and their families.
Across Asia, there are other examples of how integrating the informal workforce can provide opportunities for social mobility while also tapping their local insights and experience in waste collection and segregation. In India, waste pickers have been formally recognized since 2016, a step which acknowledged their crucial role in the value chain.
In Bengaluru, dry waste collection center operator Kumuda has experienced the impact of this first hand. When she began waste picking 20 years ago, she earned less than $2.40 per day, with no access to social safety nets, and inadequate housing for her and her family. Social impact organization Hasiru Dala supported her to obtain a waste picker identity card, which allowed Kumuda to work with the local municipality to run the collection center. Her role has enabled her to learn new literacy skills and access social protections like banking, insurance and educational support for her children. It also empowered her to build a team of over 25 workers, with plans to recruit many others in her community.
Networks like Kumuda’s will form the frontlines in the plastic pollution battle in emerging markets. NEPRA, India’s largest dry waste management company, has already begun to seize this opportunity, collecting daily from a network of workers with a tech-enabled system that uses facial recognition to ensure collectors are fairly compensated. The company supports several NGOs, one of which provides education and a safe space for children of waste pickers while their parents are working.
Developing the waste management infrastructure needed to stop Asia’s worsening plastic pollution crisis will take time and vast resources. In the meantime, it’s clear that Asia’s informal waste workers are indispensable, and their rights and livelihoods must be protected and harnessed at a greater scale for the benefit of people and the planet.
Annerieke Douma is Director of Programs for The Circulate Initiative.
Banner image: Waste pickers look for recyclable plastics at a landfill in Bali, Indonesia. Image by Jonas Gratzer for Mongabay.
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Bangladesh’s new government implements strong measures to eliminate single-use plastic
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