From Waste Pickers to Producers: An Inclusive Circular Economy Solution through Development of Cooperatives in Waste Management

Rajesh Buch, Alicia Marseille, Matthew Williams, Rimjhim Aggarwal and Aparna Sharma
Additional contact information
Rajesh Buch: Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Alicia Marseille: Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Matthew Williams: Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Rimjhim Aggarwal: Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Aparna Sharma: Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-9

Abstract: The world’s global plastics waste crisis demands policy coordination and technological solutions to improve waste management systems, and organizations worldwide have created momentum around the concept of a circular economy. This paper advances a holistic, inclusive circular economy framework that aims to empower waste pickers with the following basic pillars: (1) build collaborative networks of stakeholders to enable inclusion of waste pickers; (2) establish cooperative enterprise models to integrate waste pickers into the formal economy; (3) build waste pickers’ technical skills and capacity for entrepreneurship; and (4) provide access to technologies and markets that enable waste pickers to manufacture upcycled products.

Keywords: circular economy; inclusiveness; stakeholders; capacity building; entrepreneurship; cooperative business models; collaborative networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8925/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8925/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:8925-:d:611399

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().