Contributing to the Circular Economy
through Inclusive Recycling
through Inclusive Recycling
Recycler organizations (associations and cooperatives, national movements, and regional networks), consumer goods companies, municipal and national governments, international cooperation agencies (IDB, IDB Lab, CAF, GIZ, UNDP), experts, journalists, and media outlets work together on this agenda.
Latin America is at the forefront of a new vision for solid waste management that prioritizes recycling, formalizing the work of millions of grassroots recyclers as green jobs that make a concrete contribution to the development of the Circular Economy.
The inclusive recycling strategy, which is one of Avina’s main contributions to this collaborative process, aims to:
1) strengthen organizational capacity among recyclers and other stakeholders;
2) impact public policies and regulations to establish an institutional framework to support inclusive recycling systems;
3) strengthen value chains, both in terms of the supply of recyclable materials collected by integrated solid waste management (ISWM) systems as well as industry demand for these materials, contributing to the development of the Circular Economy.
This bottom-up strategy has been built and carried out with recyclers playing a key role in decision-making. This social innovation defies the traditional logic of international aid and makes the Regional Initiative for Inclusive Recycling a one-of-a-kind platform.
An innovative business model combines public and private resources to achieve impact, sustainability, and resilience.
The next frontier of innovation is the use of technology so that inclusive recycling becomes an integral part of the Circular Economy.
Advocacy efforts are focused on public policies at the national level (regulatory frameworks) and municipal level (ISWM systems).
This work has changed the rules of the game and made inclusive recycling central to obtaining public support and to the sustainability of consumer goods companies.
