This document discusses the inclusion of waste pickers in metropolitan waste management systems, highlighting their roles, challenges, and recommendations for effective integration. Several ways to improve waste management in metropolitan areas are described in this publication, starting with the people who work in this sector. Waste pickers contribute to the circular economy by transforming waste into valuable resources and are key allies in the fight against climate change.
Essential concepts to understand metropolitan waste management are examined in the first chapter, followed by an exploration of some of the reasons for its current inefficiencies. The other sections respectively outline the work of waste pickers, including the advantages of their activities and their day-to-day struggles, defining the problem as ‘‘inefficiency and fragile waste picking’’, and show the connections between waste picking and global agendas on sustainable development. The UN-Habitat MetroHUB initiatives, a holistic approach to promote the development of metropolitan areas, is introduced next.
The section ‘What can we do?’ features 12 recommendations proposed to both empower waste pickers and improve waste management. UN-Habitat’s commitments, urgent actions and open questions are outlined in the last chapter.
With this document, we aim to reach all stakeholders, in particular policymakers, decision-makers, planners and waste pickers’ organizations who need to understand each other and work together to build a better metropolitan waste sector in a post-COVID world.
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