What do you know about the informal waste economy? We put together a guide with resources like panels & articles that discuss various aspects of informal waste recycling, including the economics, the stigma and the challenges. So, come learn more about this very important aspect of waste management.

• Start with this article on Historical Perspectives on The Informal Waste Sector, but don’t forget that informal recyclers are also entrepreneurs. So, follow it up with an introduction to Entrepreneurship in Waste Management.
• Next, this article discusses the economics, informality & stigma in the waste network. Follow it up with this article that discusses a study by WIEGO on the informal economy of waste pickers across 5 cities and 3 continents. Continue the learning with this webinar that discusses why waste is a resource for billions and why does it matter.
• This two part article discusses models of inclusion of the informal waste sector. The panel on Intergating the Informal Waste Recycling Sector in Latin America works as a good example to subtantiate points discussed in models of inclusion.
• Learn more about the informal recycling sector with this story about Chennai’s Kabadiwalla Ecosystem, which discusses recyclers in an Indian city. To understand the Indian context a little better, you can check out this webinar that talks about Informal Waste Recycling in India.
• The discussion titled Recycling Incentives in Lower-Income Communities provides context across 3 countries about how to incentivize recycling and how to include waste pickers.
• The panel discussion on Gender, Recycling & Waste Management offers a deeper analysis of the gender related aspects of the informal recycling ecosystem. You might not know, but gender makes a difference when you’re a waste picker and it is important for us to understand that.
• In The Future of Waste Picking, we speak to Cecilia Santos who has direct experience of working with waste picker communities how the world can better make use of their lives and talents.
• Learn about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on waste pickers in the webinar on Global Waste Response to COVID-19. The pandemic had detrimental impacts on the plastic recycling value chain as a whole where waste pickers play a key role. This webinar, organised in collaboration with Circulate Capital diseminates their report on Safeguarding the Plastic Recycling Value Chain.

Is there a specific area of the informal waste sector that you want us to host a panel discussion on? Or, is there any other other panel or article (external to this website) that you think should be linked as part of this guide, do let us know in the comments.

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Want to learn about The Informal Waste Economy? This resource from @bewastewise is a good start.

Here is a quick guide to The Informal Waste Economy from @bewastewise