This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 16, 2023 - October 22, 2023

As companies and countries raise their targets for plastic recycling, a group of people who are crucial in the value chain are often forgotten: the informal waste workers.

These are the people who separate recyclable materials from waste. Their role is especially vital in countries that do not have a robust waste collection and recycling infrastructure and where much recyclable waste still ends up in bins and landfills.

Oftentimes, they work without protective gear such as gloves or even shoes, which exposes them to toxic materials. They also do not have social security or a steady income. And yet, their role in the recycling value chain is bound to become more prominent.

“Globally, there are 15 million to 20 million informal waste workers, the majority of whom are based in the global South and Southeast Asia. They are responsible for over 97% of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic collected,” says Annerieke Douma, director of programmes at The Circulate Initiative (TCI), a non-profit that aims to overcome the ocean plastic pollution challenge.

“These are highly valued and [can meet] the recycled plastic targets that many global brands [have promised to include] in their packaging.”

Huge fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies like The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé have set goals to increase the use of recycled plastic in their packaging. But if the collection of used plastic for recycling is not effective, these goals cannot be realised.

The TCI launched the Responsible Sourcing Initiative (RSI) earlier this year to improve the livelihoods of these informal waste workers and address human rights issues in the recycling supply chain. The programme is funded by The Coca-Cola Company and Minderoo Foundation.

Their goal is to facilitate value chain actors adopting responsible sourcing practices for recycled plastic and secure the commitment of over 25 global brands, investors, recyclers and aggregators by 2025 to do so.

“There are global plastic treaty negotiations underway. It is a legally binding global instrument. And there are a lot of advocates for the integration and acknowledgement of the informal waste sector,” says Douma.

“Companies are [also] advocating for the strong involvement of the informal sector because it’s impossible to reach the targets they [have] set for recycled plastics in their packaging without their (informal workers) involvement.”

The waste collection infrastructure in Malaysia is relatively good, but it might not be able to catch up with the expected population growth, observes Douma. According to the Malaysian government in 2022, the plastic recycling rate was around 33%.

However, Douma commends Malaysia’s Plastics Sustainability Roadmap 2021-2030, which acknowledges the participation of informal workers in the plastic recycling supply chain.

Companies that want to increase the recycling rates where they operate may have to work with the informal waste sector, but they will have to be careful to avoid any form of human rights violation.

A good initiative by companies globally has been to organise producer responsibility organisations (PRO) in their respective countries, says Douma. Malaysia also has a PRO called the Malaysian Recycling Alliance.

“They (the PROs) have committed to encouraging the integration of the informal sector. There are various mechanisms to do that. A very important one is the extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes,” says Douma.

Under the EPR, which is expected to be mandatory in Malaysia by 2026, plastic producers will be responsible for the post-consumer waste that is produced. This means companies must invest in efforts to increase recycling rates or take back their packaging waste.

Another initiative spearheaded by the private sector is the Fair Circularity Initiative. It is initiated by Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company to ensure the human rights of workers within the informal waste sector are respected.

This is a difficult task to do, Douma admits. But the first step is to recognise informal waste workers as critical stakeholders. “Without that, they do not have the ability to organise themselves,” she says.

Many of the problems faced by informal waste workers are systemic in nature. Therefore, the TCI works with stakeholders across the supply chain to find solutions.

“What I would love to see is essentially for these informal waste workers to have a choice and be able to move up the ladder in the waste sector, or be able to reskill themselves if they wish to. At the moment, as they are such a vulnerable group, in many cases, they are locked in,” says Douma.

“Obviously, I wish for there not to be child labour or gender inequalities and for everyone to earn a living income. All these come together in the solutions, step by step.”

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