How circularity can help address social inequities
Informal waste workers are essential to the waste management ecosystem and they can teach us a lot about economic and environmental resilience and inclusive business models.
The work of a waste worker
Before the people of Nairobi and Bengaluru wake, waste pickers are already hard at work— quietly shaping and cleaning the streetscapes. Starting as early as 4am, they collect, sort, and repurpose plastic, glass, and metal, keeping waste out of landfills and cities safe from disease and decay. Gisore Nyabuti is the General Secretary for the Kenyan National Waste Pickers Welfare Association. He says: “The most valuable are metals, but they’re very hard to find. Copper wire, for example, is highly valuable—one kilogram can go for 400 to 500 shillings [approximately three euros] per kilo.” After collecting, they spend afternoons sorting and selling recyclables to brokers or centres.
An overlooked, yet key part of waste management
Waste workers are on the front line of urban waste management in both cities, recovering valuable materials that would otherwise end up in landfills. By diverting recyclables from disposal sites and by enabling materials to be reused rather than newly manufactured, waste workers’ efforts help mitigate climate impacts. Yet they often live in the areas hardest hit by floods or heat. In cities lacking formal systems, they are an essential part of waste management. Ironically, those doing the most to protect urban ecosystems are largely overlooked by the very systems they sustain.
Waste workers and Climate KIC
We visited Bengaluru and Nairobi and spoke with various people involved in our Circular Economy Innovation Clusters to understand the challenges and needs to shift from current waste management systems to upstream innovation. In this article, we discuss the key role of waste pickers in the waste management ecosystem and explore ways that they can be incorporated into forward-thinking circular business models and policies.
A snapshot of waste management in Bengaluru
In both Bengaluru and Nairobi, the story of waste is one of growing strain and quiet resilience. Rapid urbanisation and surging populations have outpaced infrastructure, leaving both cities grappling with mounting waste. “When I was growing up, Bangalore [Bengaluru] was a green and clean city. It had many green spaces and beautiful tree canopies, but today, concrete and pollution dominate. Increased population and lifestyle changes have led to higher consumption and waste generation,” says Suresh Krishna co-founder, Managing Director, and CEO of Yunus Social Business India. Bengaluru’s systems are now stretched thin under the 5,000 metric tonnes of daily waste, yet only 30% is directly managed by the municipality, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Private contractors handle the rest, leaving significant gaps in efficiency and oversight.
A snapshot of waste management in Nairobi
Nairobi generates approximately 3,207 tonnes of waste daily — around 20% of which is plastic and 50% is organic waste. Faith Ondeng, formerly a research consultant at Wasafiri who contributed to the baseline report on waste management and conducted data collection in Kenyan informal settlements, says “low-income neighbourhoods in particular are underserved due to the lack of waste management systems, poor integration between formal and informal sectors, limited financial resources, and insufficient regulatory enforcement. As a result, waste is often burned or buried, leading to environmental degradation and harmful emissions.” She explains that many people are unemployed, and there are no formal waste collection services. While the county government does have collection points, informal waste pickers go door-to-door, providing a service for a fee. “Some just collect and transport the garbage to landfills, while others sort through it to find valuable materials they can sell to organisations that recycle,” says Ondeng.
Kibera, Nairobi
Overflowing landfills and community resilience
The Dandora landfill in Nairobi is bursting. “When you visit, garbage is piled up from the entrance. Informal workers use handcarts, and when it rains, they can’t even get inside to dump the garbage. As a result, people just dump garbage at the entrance of the landfill”, says Ondeng. In places like Kibera – the largest informal settlement in Nairobi – youth-led waste picker collectives fill the gaps, serving thousands amid poor conditions and precarious income. Across both cities, a clear message emerges: true sustainability demands more than just managing waste. It calls for systemic support, dignity for informal workers, and an economy that values people as much as materials.
Who are the waste pickers?
“Waste collection and disposal is usually done by low-income households, uneducated, or people from lower economic strata of society. Despite providing an absolutely essential service without which our cities would quickly become unlivable, these workers receive almost no recognition or respect,” says Krishna. Meanwhile, Ondeng says “Many young people in these areas [in Nairobi] get into garbage collection because it’s either that or crime. They’re now realising there’s money in garbage beyond just collecting fees from households—they can sort, recycle, and reuse materials.”
Addressing their unique skills and knowledge
Informal waste workers not only offer economic wealth through waste collection, they also have a wealth of knowledge around materials that must be recognised. “Waste pickers already know plastics by their own names and can identify materials efficiently, explains Nyabuti. The [Nairobi] government only needs to provide basic training, such as chemical awareness and terminology, to align waste pickers with formal systems. Without this integration, policies will fail. Waste pickers are the backbone of the recycling process and must be acknowledged and supported.”
Recognition is crucial
Draft by-laws for waste management in Karnataka, the region where Bengaluru is located, have been criticised for omitting discussions on waste pickers, highlighting the need for their inclusion in municipal waste systems to ensure fair compensation and risk protection. Nalini Shekar is the co-founder of Hasiru Dala, a non-profit helping marginalised waste pickers in Bengaluru. She explains that “in Karnataka, both urban and rural areas are working towards ensuring that every waste picker has an identity card. This recognition and integration are crucial, and we [Hasiru Dala] have worked hard to change the narrative, seeing waste pickers as skilled contributors to the economy.”
Dry Waste Collection centre, Bengaluru
Living with stigma
Waste workers frequently lack basic safety such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), legal recognition, labour rights which put them physically at risk, excludes them from policy decisions, and makes them vulnerable when cities privatise or modernise their waste services. Beyond these challenges, the job comes with social stigma and discrimination. “From sorters to recyclers, there’s a lack of dignity and respect for the work they do, says Krishna. They remain at the bottom of the system, and because they don’t use safety equipment while handling waste, their health is at serious risk. The waste is often mixed, containing hazardous materials that release harmful fumes and can even enter the food chain—affecting low-income communities the most.”
Working with policy to support communities
Waste pickers must be integrated into the system to ensure policies succeed. Nyabuti says “We need long-term partnerships to establish sustainable systems…Empowerment, not just temporary solutions like PPE, is critical. We need a dignified income for waste pickers to break the cycle of generational waste picking.” He adds that policies and discussions often exclude waste picker input, “When new policies are introduced, waste pickers on the ground are simply informed and expected to implement them without understanding the details. This disconnect makes it difficult to translate policies into effective action.” It is crucial to include waste pickers in policy design to ensure systems are inclusive, practical, and capable of real, lasting impact.
Calls for better understanding and defining waste pickers
Raising awareness and reducing stigma is one aspect of the work but it isn’t the whole picture. Reforming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is key. This means waste pickers must be clearly recognised as part of the value chain, not categorised in the same group as general service providers. Nyabuti says “One of the main challenges is that the EPR framework has not defined what constitutes a waste picker. If waste workers and waste service providers are all grouped into one category, it creates confusion and doesn’t address the distinct role of waste pickers in the value chain.”
The link between circular and inclusive businesses
A true circular economy is one that focuses on upstream innovation and its major principles: designing out waste; keeping products and materials in circulation at their highest value for as long as possible; and regenerating nature. When designed with care, circular businesses can become truly inclusive business models which actively involve marginalised communities— like waste pickers— as contributors, decision-makers, and beneficiaries in value chains. That means that waste pickers, recyclers, and repairers are brought into the system with fair pay, recognition, and a voice.
Kibera, Nairobi
The need for a just transition
Circularity is incomplete without social equity. When waste pickers are included through cooperatives, partnerships, or municipal support, they gain safer working conditions, fair pay, and greater stability. Training and capacity building create pathways for growth and entrepreneurship. The most effective systems are co-designed with waste pickers, valuing their lived experience. Inclusive strategies strengthen local expertise and build more resilient urban systems. As Nyabuti says “Previously, everything was linear: use and discard. But now, the goal is to find value in everything, ensuring it can be recovered and reused, starting with the producer. This shift is happening quickly, and we need to adapt to this change. [Waste pickers] being part of these discussions helps us implement circular initiatives effectively and move away from outdated linear practices.”
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Climate KIC, along with its partners GrowthAfrica and SecondMuse, is fostering Circular Economy Innovation Clusters in Bengaluru and Nairobi, funded by the IKEA Foundation. These clusters take a place-based approach to solving urban challenges while unlocking economic opportunities. Click here to dive into the baseline report for Bengaluru and Nairobi.
These articles are part of a series highlighting our learnings and work across the circular economy innovation clusters, upstream innovation, and waste management and prevention.
We welcome requests for further insights on upstream innovation and opportunities for collaboration. We are particularly interested in partnerships that can help scale our impact and drive meaningful progress in this space.