Behind every kilo of plastic waste recovered from streets, rivers, and landfills are the hands of waste workers—individuals who play a vital, yet often overlooked, role in the fight against plastic pollution. These workers, often operating in informal sectors, form the backbone of the global recycling system, especially in developing regions where formal waste management is limited. Empowering them isn’t just an act of social responsibility—it’s essential to building a circular, sustainable plastic economy.
The Role of Waste Workers
Waste workers collect, sort, and transport plastic waste, including low value plastics that are often ignored by large-scale recycling systems. Their work helps divert significant amounts of plastic from the environment, contributing to cleaner communities and ecosystems. Despite their essential contributions, waste workers often face unsafe working conditions, unstable income, and limited access to basic protections or social services.
Why Empowerment Matters
Empowering waste workers means recognizing their contribution, ensuring fair wages, providing access to safety equipment, and integrating them into formal waste recovery systems. It also includes capacity building through training, access to tools and infrastructure, and fair inclusion in plastic credit systems that reward verified plastic collection.
When waste workers are supported and protected, the quality and scale of plastic recovery improves. Communities benefit from cleaner surroundings, and companies seeking to offset their plastic footprint can do so with confidence that their contributions are creating real, measurable social and environmental impact.
Reclaimify’s Commitment
At Reclaimify, we believe that people are at the center of environmental change. That’s why our plastic credit programs prioritize fair compensation and empowerment for waste workers. We work directly with local communities in places like Lombok to ensure that recovery efforts uplift lives while cleaning the environment. Our traceable system ensures that every credit purchased supports transparent, ethical plastic recovery—with people, not just materials, at the heart of the solution.
