This is webinar #4 of the seven-part webinar series from Global Waste Lab, in partnership with be Waste Wise.
One of the biggest mistakes in waste management is designing systems for people without speaking properly to them first. Women, young people, waste workers, community leaders, small businesses, households and local service providers all experience waste systems differently. They also hold practical knowledge about how waste is generated, stored, collected, reused, sold, burned, dumped or avoided.
When these voices are excluded, projects can miss the realities that determine whether a system will work. They may overlook existing reuse networks, household routines, safety concerns, income streams, cultural practices or barriers to participation.
Inclusive engagement is not a box-ticking exercise. Done well, it improves project design, builds trust, surfaces risks early and helps communities see waste systems as something they have shaped, not something imposed from outside. The session moves beyond the language of “stakeholder engagement” and look at how people can be involved in ways that genuinely shape decisions, improve project design and build trust. This session explores:
- who is often left out of waste system design
- how exclusion creates practical and financial risks
- what meaningful participation looks like in practice
- how engagement can build trust, ownership and better services