The International Alliance of Waste Pickers Position on EPR
To amplify our collective voice on EPR, we’re inviting organizations and allies to endorse this position . Having your endorsement means that IAWP will have a much stronger voice to negotiate and fight for Waste Picker rights on EPR
What is EPR
Policy makers and civil society are trying to solve this problem through something called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR. EPR holds companies more responsible for the impacts of what they produce by requiring them to finance, and often also manage, the recycling, reuse, or disposal of their products and packaging.
EPR has the potential to benefit the environment and to generate decent work in waste management. But for the world’s 22 million informal waste workers, EPR can be harmful. Waste pickers manage 30-80% of the waste in many cities, but EPR is sometimes designed in ways that create barriers to the participation and recognition of waste pickers in the system.
In 2018, the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers, (currently International Alliance of Waste Pickers) with support from WIEGO, established a working group dedicated to understanding and developing resources for the role of waste pickers in EPR. These resources are shared on this website, which is updated as new content is finalized. The working group is composed of waste pickers, organizers, technical experts, policy advisors, and academicians connected to waste picker organizations across five continents.
Representatives of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers’ EPR Working Group (in alphabetical order) include:
- Alejandro Valiente (FACCyR)
- Alex Cardoso (MNCR)
- Brianne De Man (Binners’ Project)
- Carolina Palacio (FACCyR)
- Cecilia Allen (GAIA)
- Dr. Christine Hegel (Sure We Can)
- Dr. Federico Parra (WIEGO/ARB)
- Dr. Jacqueline Rutkowski (Institute SUSTENTAR / ORIS)
- Dr. Owusu Boampong (WIEGO/Kpone Waste Pickers Association)
- Dr. Sonia Dias (WIEGO)
- Elly Ogola (Kibera Waste Pickers)
- Friday Oku (NUSWON)
- Harshad Barde (KKPKP/SWaCH)
- Jackie Flores (FACCyR)
- Johnson Doe (Kpone Waste Pickers Association)
- Juan Collado (FACCyR)
- Jyoti Mhapsekar (SMS)
- Kabir Arora (AIW)
- Karim Saagbul (WIEGO/Kpone Waste Pickers Association)
- Krishna (Hasiru Dala)
- Lakshmi Narayan (SWaCH/KKPKP)
- Lubna Anantakrishnan (KKPKP/SWaCH)
- Lucia Fernandez (WIEGO)
- Luiz Henrique Silva (MNCR)
- Nalini Shekar (Hasiru Dala)
- Neli Medeiros (MNCR-Gender and Waste project)
- Pinky Chandran (Hasiru Dala)
- Roberto Laureano (MNCR)
- Sergio Sanchez (FACCyR)
- Severino Jr. (REDLACRE)
- Soledad Mela (REDLACRE / ANARCHI)
- Sunita Patil (SMS)
- Sushila Sable (SMS)
- Suzanne Caflisch
- Taylor Cass Talbott (WIEGO/Ground Score Association)
- Vidya Naiknavare (SWaCH/KKPKP)
