Waste Pickers Are Essential to Inclusive Green and Circular Economies
Waste pickers are vital to circular economies and climate action, yet remain largely invisible. Sonia Dias explores how climate change affects their work, especially that of women.
Greener and more circular economies are widely seen as a way to conserve resources, enable economic growth and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognised the circular economy as an increasingly important mitigation approach that can help deliver human well-being by minimising the waste of energy and resources.
Informal systems for collecting, reusing, and repairing recyclable materials in the Global South already embody circular principles. Yet, they remain largely unrecognised within circular economy systems. If we do not address this disconnect, circular economy and green economy models will fail to strengthen these everyday practices of circularity and will risk undermining the livelihoods of millions of workers worldwide as well as progress towards climate change and other sustainability goals.
Social and gender inequalities pose significant threats to circularity, greener economies, climate action and the implementation of just transition. Failure to address these inequalities has severe consequences, including food insecurity, heightened health risks, and increased gender- and race-based violence. It also undermines the effectiveness of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Literature, data and policies addressing the relationship between gender, climate change, circular and green economies, and waste pickers remain scarce. This is precisely why it is important to work towards recognising the essential contributions of 40 million informal recycling workers and document how they are affected by climate change.
This article examines how climate change affects waste pickers, particularly women, and the role they play in advancing circular economy systems and climate action.
Climate Change Is Already Reshaping Work
Climate change exacerbates risks in an already complex solid waste management system. Workers in the informal economy bear the brunt of the waste and climate crises, particularly women. Heat waves, torrential rains and other phenomena are impacting workers’ health all over the world, including that of waste pickers.
Even though waste pickers contribute to GHG mitigation, they are still invisible in climate change research and policy. Data from WIEGO and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers show that waste pickers around the world collectively mitigate between 170 million and 390 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions every year. Despite being everyday stewards of green and circular economies, they still lack recognition.
This gap in recognition is visible in climate adaptation strategies at local and national levels, in just transition and green industrial policies, and in the climate, human rights and labour rights frameworks. As a result, more workers risk being pushed into vulnerable working conditions. This gap is particularly acute in climate research. A Lack of documentation on how waste pickers are affected by extreme weather events weakens the design of adaptation policies that address their needs.
In our 2023 climate change mapping in Brazil, workers reported that extreme heat and heavy rainfall inside recycling warehouses are no longer occasional disruptions; they have become part of daily life. For waste pickers, climate change intensifies already precarious working conditions, directly threatening their health, safety, and livelihoods. Moreover, most cooperatives operate in fragile facilities, often covered by zinc roofs that absorb and amplify heat during increasingly frequent heatwaves. According to the 2024 Recycling Atlas published by the Associação Nacional dos Catadores (Ancat), women make up 56 per cent of the workforce in recycling cooperatives nationwide, compared with 44 per cent for men.
As temperatures rise, many warehouses become unbearable workplaces, forcing activities to stop for hours at a time. During periods of intense rainfall, flooding and leaks damage recyclable materials, interrupt operations, and create unsafe conditions for workers who already handle waste and heavy equipment on a daily basis.
The consequences of extreme weather events are particularly severe for women waste pickers because many are heads of household and rely entirely on their daily earnings from recycling to support their families. When work stops due to excessive heat or heavy rain, their income disappears immediately.
Unlike formally employed workers, they have no access to paid leave, healthcare benefits, unemployment protection, or climate adaptation measures that could help them cope with these disruptions.
The climate crisis also magnifies long-standing social inequalities. In addition to spending long hours inside recycling facilities, many women waste pickers shoulder the bulk of domestic work and caregiving responsibilities. Extreme weather events place even greater strain on routines that are already physically and emotionally demanding.
Tracking the Growing Impact of Extreme Weather
Following our 2023 climate change mapping, WIEGO launched its Near Real-Time Monitoring of Extreme Weather Events (NRTM) project in Brazil in 2025. The project has demonstrated how increasingly severe weather directly affects waste pickers’ ability to work and earn an income.
Investments in proper ventilation, thermal roofing, drainage systems, and safer facilities are essential to protect these workers as climate impacts intensify. These physical improvements must be accompanied by social protections, including access to healthcare, occupational health and safety measures, and income-support mechanisms that can help workers manage the financial and health burdens associated with climate-related disruptions.
Despite these challenges, women and men waste pickers continue to provide a vital environmental service. Recycling cooperatives help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by preventing recyclable materials from ending up in landfills and by returning them to productive use within the economy.
Creating climate-resilient working environments for women and men waste pickers is no longer optional; it is an urgent necessity. Both governments and the industry should invest in climate-resilient working infrastructure for waste pickers, social protection, and disaster preparedness. The donor community should also take the needs of informal waste pickers into account when designing climate funding calls.
The climate crisis is not only an environmental challenge. It is also a labour issue and a matter of social and gender justice. Waste pickers, particularly women, stand at the intersection of all three. Ignoring their working conditions means ignoring the women and the men who carry, every day, the weight of the climate emergency. Greening economies must include meaningful recognition of waste pickers’ contribution.
