Many waste management and recycling systems in South and Southeast Asia rely on women working in the informal sector, but offer them few opportunities to secure dignified work or improve their livelihoods. The work of women is often less secure and less valued than the work of men, and women are at greater risk of discrimination, harrassment, and violence.

The Incubation Network is providing direct support for four co-op scrap shops and two recycling units, as well as for the mobilization and training of waste pickers through Kashtakari Panchayat, a non-profit organization based in Pune, India that supports waste pickers, their families, and their collectives through direct financial assistance and indirect support such as training, facilitation, and research.

Kashtakari Panchayat’s solution is also part of an EU SWITCH-Asia project that aims to establish new, vertically integrated supply chains that create greater incomes and opportunities for (women) waste pickers and other stakeholders.

The project establishes four new supply chains for value-added products from plastic waste, such as 3D printing filament, that will be owned and operated by waste pickers, of which 70% will be women.

Photo by Neil de Souza on Unsplash