Rethinking Recycling
Building rapidly scalable, self-sustaining waste management and recycling ecosystems, that redirect waste into productive use while improving people’s lives.
The world is facing a profound waste crisis. Landfills are overflowing, methane emissions from organic waste are dangerously accelerating climate change, and every year 11 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans—largely from emerging economies, where over 2 billion people have no access to waste management.
Solving this crisis requires rapid expansion of waste management coverage and recycling markets, alongside a deeper redesign of how we consume.
We aim to reach 10-15m people and divert 1m ton of waste into productive use by 2025.
Our Theory of Change
Our theory of change helps to build scalable solutions that deliver rapid impact. And we do so in collaboration with resident communities, partner organizations, and local governments. In addition, we leverage technology in innovative ways to amplify our impact and improve lives.
Breaking a Vicious Cycle
Waste and recycling systems around the world are under-developed, rife with pollutive and exploitative practices, and there’s little to no transparency or traceability. The situation persists despite ambitious commitments by global corporations and national governments, and valuable commodities in every ton of everyday waste.
The underlying cause? A vicious cycle of insufficient supply and unreliable demand for recyclables. Communities lack the infrastructure to deliver clean, ethically sourced material to recycling markets, while weak demand signals from industry undermine the business case for investing in that infrastructure.
Building a Scalable Solution
Our flagship initiative, Rethinking Recycling, works with communities and industry to create highly productive, financially attractive systems that rapidly increase the amount of material recycled into productive use, including solutions for plastics and organic waste.
On the supply side, we develop community-owned, self-sustaining waste management systems that produce a reliable stream of high-value recyclables while serving everyone in the community.
On the demand side, we work with corporate players to build aggregation, traceability, and logistics solutions, and to create local markets to consistently absorb the supply of recycled material at a fair price.
We reinforce this approach with government support at the right moments and at multiple levels, to enable and sustain the full-scale adoption of successful models.
Achieving Rapid Impact
To date, we are on track to bring recycling and waste management services to nearly a quarter million people in Indonesia and Argentina, most of whom had no previous access to recycling solutions. Our programs have achieved recycling rates higher than those of many US cities and improved the livelihoods of more than 450 waste workers, many of whom are marginalized women.
What started as proof-of-concepts in 2019 in Argentina and Indonesia have matured into scale-up programs that address entire cities or multiple villages at once. We plan to bring Rethinking Recycling to more countries in the years ahead.
Leveraging Technology to Amplify Impact
We use technology to bring the benefits of recycling to life for stakeholders throughout the ecosystem. Whether it’s a resident learning how to recycle from a chatbot, or a company tracing recycled plastic from bin to new bottle, we bring human-centered design and data transparency to accelerate and sustain our impact.
Waste Warriors
Juan (left) and Adrian (right) are relatives from Olavarría and have been working in waste since they were 14 and 12 years old, along with their fathers and brothers. Growing up and into their adulthood, Juan and Adrian would go to the landfill every day unless weather conditions prevented them from working. However, like so many workers all over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic upended their ability to visit the landfill and sort through waste. Due to restrictions at the landfill, fewer people were allowed to work at a time, and Juan and Adrian could no longer perform the work that their families depended on.
Thankfully, Juan and Adrian were able to find work with Rethinking Recycling’s GIRO recycling and composting plants in Olavarría. At the GIRO recycling plant, Juan and Adrian are able to work in a cleaner environment and receive formal, regular payments for their work.
Now they are in their 30s with young families of their own, Juan and Adrian have a deeper appreciation for the work they have been doing since they were in their early teens. Both men hope that the city will continue to increase its understanding of recycling and how proper recycling practices can improve living conditions for countless Argentinians.
Ximena has been working with our Buenos Aires “A Todo Reciclaje” (ATR) program for over three years and says her “most beautiful” experience with the program has been talking with her neighbors about recycling. Prior to the ATR program, a lot of Ximena’s neighbors did not know how to separate their waste into three categories (organics, recyclables and mixed waste) at home, and how much usable waste they were throwing away.
Today, Ximena talks about recycling everywhere she goes–whether it is with her children at home or when she is volunteering at youth activities. As the program continues to grow, Ximena hopes the Barrio will continue to see improvements from recycling and more interest in waste work.
Lucia is a devoted grandmother who has been working in waste for over nine years, three with our Buenos Aires “A Todo Reciclaje” (ATR) program. Prior to the ATR program, Lucia only had one task: sweeping up the streets. Once the ATR program was implemented, Lucia was able to have more interaction with her neighbors about recycling and each team member rotated tasks every week-providing Lucia with more hands-on opportunities to get involved and learn more about recycling.
Lucia now earns extra income from her waste work, which is especially helpful given the financial challenges many families have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Any extra income is a help,” Lucia shares.
A three-year veteran of our Buenos Aires “A Todo Reciclaje” (ATR) program, Yrma admits she’s become a bit obsessed about recycling. Working in waste since 2015, Yrma has seen first-hand how the ATR program made the neighborhood much cleaner and streamlined the work for her and her colleagues.
Outside of recycling and her work with the ATR program, Yrma operates her own laundry and plans for the future of her small business.
Pak Siswoyo started out as a farmer in the small village of Desa Kenkong, but later moved to Bali with the hope he would find a different future for himself. However, when a career in tourism did not materialize, Pak Siswoyo found work as a waste picker – an informal position where he would sort through discarded plastic for an income.
Through the Desa Kedas program, started by the Rethinking Recycling initiative, Pak Siswoyo was able to transition from an informal position to a formal position with better pay.
Pak Siswoyo’s wife, Bu Siti, was working as a domestic helper when she decided to join her husband at TPS3R Sekar Tanjung recycling center. Today, the couple works side-by-side and are both considered ‘irreplaceable’ by their team members.
Pak Siswoyo’s wife, Bu Siti, was working as a domestic helper when she decided to join her husband at TPS3R Sekar Tanjung recycling center. Today, the couple works side-by-side and are both considered ‘irreplaceable’ by their team members.
Through the Rethinking Recycling initiative, the entire village has united to champion the recycling program, with Pak Sis and his waste worker colleagues encouraging a new era of families to separate waste at source and divert it from landfill.
When they are not working together at the recycling center, Pak Siswoyo and Bu Siti enjoy farming and have planted different herbs at TPS3R Sekar Tanjung.
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