Gender and Waste Nexus: Experiences from Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal

employed waste pickers in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, India. Emerging from a trade union of waste pickers formed in 1993, SWaCH has evolved into a door-to-door pick-up service, working in close collaboration with the municipality (Solid Waste Collection and Handling [SWaCH] n.d.). Another Indian company representing waste pickers is Hasiru Dala, which has secured stable income and legal recognition for thousands of waste pickers in Bangalore, providing them with identity cards, skills training and access to financial and health services (Hasiru Dala 2015). In Latin America, the Gender and Waste project, launched by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), the Women’s Research Center (NEPEM), the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and the LatinAmerican and Caribbean Recyclers Network (Red LACRE), has

been working to increase the political and economic empowerment of female waste pickers (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing [WIEGO] 2018). The project is focused on equality and respect among men andwomen waste pickers, and aims to increase the efficiency of waste management. Based on field lessons from the project, a toolkit for teachers, researchers and practitioners was published in 2017 (Dias and Ogando 2017). Another publication focused on gender mainstreaming in waste sectors across Latin America is the guidebook “Gender and Recycling: Tools for Project Design and Implementation” (Regional Initiative for Inclusive Recycling [IRR] 2013). This toolkit was developed to provide guidance on incorporating gender perspectives in projects that aim to integrate informal workers into the recycling value chain.

Garbage collection in Bhutan. Photo by Tina Schoolmeester.

Gender and waste nexus

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