Amélior organizes flea markets in collaboration with local authorities to give waste pickers a place to sell the objects they have picked up and repaired.
Around 1% of the working population worldwide works as informal waste pickers. Whereas in some regions, their work is recognized and valued as a vital system to evacuate and sort waste, in many countries, those people suffer from public invisibility or have to face hostility. Studies compiled by https://globalrec.org/ show that waste pickers provide a cheap, resilient public service while allowing outcast to earn a living and even socialize.
The NGO Amélior started organizing monthly markets in 2012. As informal flea markets trigger sanitary and image problems, they had to do a “proof of concept flea market” that would not imply cleaning, smuggling or security issues. The collaborators give the waste pickers strict guidelines, sell an affordable exhibition permit that brings enough money to hire amongst them a few coordinators that help them in their task of policing, coordinating and cleaning during the markets. The items that are unsold are either given away or brought to conventional recycling centers.
The main stakeholders are the people below the poverty line that can either buy cheap clothes, objects or sell them to make a revenue. The local inhabitants and shops are not scared or negatively impacted by waste or security issues. The local authorities save money not having to pay police to intervene and chase the street sellers, or cleaning services that often have to clean after informal weekly markets.
Resources needed
The project costs literally nothing since waste pickers only ask the right to pick waste and ell it at the market price. A city can nevertheless provide financial help, storage space, or help from cleaning services.
Evidence of success
The flea market has been running for ten years without subsidies and is well accepted by local citizens. Even big waste organisation like Syctom now resort to Amelior services for their waste collection or recycling services for textile or metal. Impact measurement studies have proven that integrating the 2000 waste pickers is a very efficient way for local authorities to invest in and fight against climate change.
Difficulties encountered
Waste pickers still might face prejudices because of their legal status, origins, language orpoverty . Also, despite the success in Montreuil, local mayors often fear that the electors might resent them for allowing poverty displays in public spaces.
Potential for learning or transfer
Sometimes, local authorities can help only by letting civil society find solutions. In that particular case, public policies are more a threat to the circular economy than a helping hand since they want to control what is being done and spend tremendous amount of money to prevent citizens from providing free public services.
Key information is that the solutions have to be built with the beneficiaries that know the fields and their own interest. Another waster picker flea market has been “given” to a more conventional but less grass root NGO and do not offer similar good results despite the higher costs.
Waste pickers are already organized in global networks exchanging good practices and political stances.
Tags: Inclusion, Solutions, Waste
