Waste collectors – both formal and informal – are critical to helping deliver a circular economy and yet, often they are among the most marginalized people in the world. Today, there are an estimated 15 million waste pickers who remove about 20 percent of the world’s metropolitan waste. They are deeply entrepreneurial, hardworking, and skilled at identifying and collecting waste. Without their efforts, our cites would be less healthy and our environment more polluted.

We need them. And now they need us, to support them through the COVID crisis with basic necessities like protective masks, gloves, handwashing stations, basic food rations, and supplementary income if they are unable to work, while building capacity to improve their quality of life and economic sustainability for the longer term.

Ghana, India, and Nigeria

Brazil, India, and Kenya

Haiti, Honduras, and Taiwan

India and Southeast Asia