Panel

From Invisible to Invaluable: Reuse, recovery and the workers holding circularity together

ORGANIZED BY

Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives, BBC Media Action, CommonGood Behaviour Lab, Saamuhika Shakti

15-Sep

14:15-15:15

Conference Room 3

Circularity is scaling across plastics and textiles value chains. The informal workers holding those systems together are rarely at the table. Drawing on lessons from six years of Collective Impact in Bengaluru and implementation of reuse systems across many Asian countries, this session seeks to answer what it takes to build genuinely inclusive and just circular systems where informal workers are recognised, represented, and able to share in the value they help create.

Overview

This session explores how just transition to a circular Zero Waste economy can address both the plastic and textile crises and the rights of informal workers who underpin sustainable material systems. Across Asia, the environmental and social costs of linear economic models are borne disproportionately by low-income communities and waste pickers. Drawing on experiences from reuse, refill, repair and waste recovery initiatives, including Bengaluru’s Saamuhika Shakti collective, BBC Media Action’s #Invaluables campaign, and the successful reuse and refill pilots like the Kuha Si Tingi model from Philippines and India and Thailand. The discussion will examine how resilience must be built through rights, inclusion, participation and protection. Speakers will share practical lessons on integrating informal workers into circular value chains, demonstrating how inclusive reuse-based systems can create livelihoods, strengthen communities and deliver lasting environmental and social impact.

Why it matters

The shift towards circularity and sustainability will only be successful if it includes the waste pickers who make these systems function. Informal waste pickers remain largely invisible within deep-tier supply chains, despite playing a critical role in waste collection, sorting, recovery and the resulting emissions reduction. As reuse, refill, return and repair systems as alternative delivery models to prevent plastic and textile waste and pollution scale up, exclusion of these workers risks deepening existing inequalities and threatening their livelihoods. Drawing on lessons from successful Waste Picker led reuse models and the Saamuhika Shakti initiative, this session highlights how meaningful participation, rights protection and inclusive system design can create resilient local economies while ensuring that no one is left behind in the transition.

Key questions

In the transition away from single use circular economy models, we must center the knowledge and experience of informal workers, especially waste pickers. What would a just circular Zero Waste system that recognizes,benefits rather than displace informal waste pickers look like? How can circularity create pathways to greater income, agency, and security for waste workers?

Who should attend?

Practitioners and funders
Government and policy makers
Youth
Non-government sectors
Workers, communities
Human rights workers and labour unions
International financing institutions (IFIs) and investors
Think tanks and academics

What participants will gain

Proven implementation lessons and case studies from Asia, including the Saamuhika Shakti initiative, Kuha Si Tingi model in Philippines, and similar models from India and many others featured in the Unpacking Reuse in Asia publication. Through these case studies, we will demonstrate how multi-stakeholder collaboration can deliver measurable improvements in livelihoods, safety, social protection and worker participation.
A deeper understanding of the human rights impacts of the linear economy, unsustainable consumption and why protecting workers at the bottom of supply chains is essential to building sustainable, just and inclusive systems.
Adaptable tools and resources such as open-source PPE designs, social security approaches, shared measurement frameworks and communications strategies that can be applied across sectors and geographies.
Insights from practitioners, worker representatives and social enterprises on how to centre affected communities in decision-making and ensure that transitions are inclusive rather than exclusionary.
A stronger lens for assessing their own commitments, helping participants identify who remains invisible in their supply chains, who bears transition risks, and how meaningful participation can be embedded into business and policy decisions.

Additional resources

Arpita Bhagat

Plastic Policy Officer, Asia Pacific, Global Alliance For Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

Arpita is an impact sector professional experienced in leading climate, plastics and gender justice campaigns. Since 2012, she has worked across international and Indian organisations leading public mobilisation, advocacy, and movement-building campaigns and programs across diverse issues including clean energy, sustainable agriculture, climate-resilient cities, gender justice, and plastics. At GAIA, she supports grassroot national groups' across Asia and the Pacific push for progressive policy engagement to advance zero waste solutions, enable just transition for informal workers and waste pickers and prevent the overproduction of plastics. She is also GAIA's Asia Pacific lead in the negotiations for an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution since the start.

Indumathi

Entrepreneur and waste picker leader

Indumathi is a pioneering waste picker-turned-entrepreneur and global advocate from Bengaluru, India. Following personal tragedy in 2010, she entered the informal waste sector to support her family, later gaining recognition through Bengaluru based non-profit Hasiru Dala. She transitioned into a successful entrepreneur, managing municipal Dry Waste Collection Centres and leading Bengaluru’s first pilot Textile Recovery Facility to advance the circular economy. Beyond operations, Indumathi champions social welfare by hosting educational spaces for workers' children and represents waste pickers from Global South at International Plastic Treaty negotiations, advocating for dignity of labour and a just transition.

Maria Bystedt

Programme Director, Collective Action, H&M Foundation

As Programme Director for Collective Action at H&M Foundation, Maria Bystedt is responsible for the strategic development, programme management, and fostering of collaborative partnerships aiming to decarbonise the textile industry in a just and fair way. She initiated and leads the Saamuhika Shakti program, a pioneering collective impact initiative in Bengaluru aimed at inclusive circularity, where informal waste pickers are part of building circular solutions for the green transition. With 25 years of experience in the development sector and philanthropy, she has worked with organizations like the Swedish UN Association and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), demonstrating her expertise in international development and social innovation. Having worked at the H&M Foundation since its inception in 2013, she has a wealth of experience in bridging the intersection of philanthropy and the textile industry.

Nalini Shekar

National Convenor, Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers

Nalini Shekar is a distinguished social activist, social entrepreneur, and co-founder of Hasiru Dala, an organisation that has played a transformative role in advancing inclusive and sustainable solid-waste management in India. With over three decades of experience, she has consistently demonstrated a deep commitment to strengthening the rights, recognition, and economic security of informal waste workers. She previously worked in the United States on issues of domestic violence, immigrant rights, and human trafficking, where she managed shelters and led advocacy efforts. Through Hasiru Dala, Ms. Shekar and her team have worked with more than 25,000 waste-picker families, enabling access to identity documents, stable livelihoods, and a rightful place in the circular economy, while supporting the next generation to pursue their aspirations. Her leadership has helped transform informal workers into acknowledged service providers and environmental stewards, shaping more humane and resilient urban systems. Hasiru Dala's work has fundamentally reshaped the narrative around waste pickers—elevating them from invisibilised workers to recognised city builders, entrepreneurs, and environmental champions—and has facilitated access to vital social protection measures. Ms. Shekar remains a highly respected voice in the fields of the circular economy, urban governance, and social inclusion, bringing a principled and systems-focused approach to sustainable development. In 2025, she was named among the "Vogue Business 100 Innovators: Sustainability Thought Leaders", among several other honours she has received. Other awards for her work include "Guiding Star Award" 2021 by SAP and TV9, "Bengalurian of the year" 2020, BBMP's "Kempegowda Award" 2015, from the City of Bangalore. Women of the year "Shining star" award 2016 by CKC group, She was chosen as one of 100 women in India who make a difference in society by BBC.com. She is also featured in a Coffee Book. She has also received the Jijabai Award from Shivaji College, Delhi University. "Vasundara Mitra" Award 2016 by Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Limited. She was featured in a book "Dream Chasers" Women Entrepreneurs from the south of Vindyas and in September 2025, she was selected as one of the "100 innovators" Vogue Magazine. An award from the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission, honoured by the San Jose City Government for her work with immigrants, a Certificate of Honour from the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Star Award from the Asian Community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Varinder Gambhir

Country Director, BBC Media Action and Common Good Behaviour Lab

Varinder Kaur Gambhir is the Country Director for India at BBC Media Action, the BBC’s independent international NGO that uses media and communication to inform, empower, and connect people worldwide. With over 20 years of experience across India, Nepal, and the UK, she brings deep expertise in research, insights, and strategy spanning both corporate and social impact sectors. Her work covers audience research on health, sanitation, gender, and climate change, as well as CSR and sustainability strategies for leading brands including Unilever, Reliance, and Accenture. She has also partnered with organizations such as USAID, UNICEF, and IPE Global to design evidence-based social and behavioural change interventions. A firm believer in data-driven communication solutions, she is passionate about harnessing insights to drive social change at scale.