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Latest Resources
Managing Organics with Waste Pickers: A Briefing for Policymakers
- Climate - May 2026

Waste pickers play a critical role in climate action, methane reduction, and sustainable waste management, yet their contributions are often overlooked in public policy. This briefing from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) highlights how integrating waste pickers into formal waste management systems can improve environmental outcomes, strengthen local economies, and advance environmental justice.

"Managing Organics with Waste Pickers: A Briefing for Policymakers," co-released by GAIA and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, examines how waste pickers—estimated at 15 to 20 million workers worldwide—are increasingly leading organic waste management efforts. By diverting food scraps and organic materials from landfills, waste pickers help reduce methane emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gases driving climate change.

The report provides recommendations for policymakers seeking to build inclusive, community-based waste management systems that support waste picker livelihoods while advancing climate and zero waste goals.

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  • Managing organics with waste pickers: Briefing for policymakers

Related Resources

Submission to the U.N. Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the implications of plastic pollution for the full enjoyment of human rights
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People stand and sift through a large pile of garbage at a landfill, with recycling and Gaia logos visible in the sky above left.
- Plastic - 15 May 2026

This submission details the myriad ways that plastic pollution violates human rights at every stage from extraction to disposal, and identifies the specific groups most impacted. The reader can also find proposals for how to address these human rights abuses through policy fora such as the Basel Convention and the plastics treaty, and regional and national policy, emphasizing an inclusive, Just Transition approach.

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  • GAIA submission UNHRC Advisory Committee - Plastic pollution - 15 May 2026
Views on the development of UNFCCC roadmaps for a Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in a Just, Orderly and Equitable Manner, and for Halting and Reversing Deforestation and Forest Degradation by 2030
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- Climate - 31 March 2026

GAIA proposes the following material economy shifts as solutions for the roadmaps to deliver a Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in a Just, Orderly and Equitable Manner, as well as Halting and Reversing Deforestation and Forest Degradation by 2030:

-solutions to shift the material economy from single-use to reuse:

-a declining cap on plastic production;

-removing plastic polymer production subsidies;

-deploying reuse and refill systems;

-and, ending the burning of biomass and waste.

GAIA News Meet Our Members Action Alerts Events Press Releases
  • Latest News To Solve the Climate Crisis, We Must Solve the Plastic Crisis Zambia's First National Symposium for Waste Pickers on Plastic Pollution Call to Suspend the Asian Development Bank's Board Deliberations on the Energy Policy 2021
  • Upcoming Events Webinar: Creating effective systems for reuse Webinar: Are we getting closer to a circular economy in Europe?
interior The Zero Waste Masterplan banner image

The Zero Waste Masterplan

United States & Canada - Zero waste - 2020

This toolkit is for policymakers, sustainability professionals, environmental advocates, and grassroots organizers leading their cities into a green and just future through zero waste. (2020)

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  • GAIA_Zero Waste MasterPlan_FINAL
Related Resources
  • The Zero Waste Masterplan. Companion Guide for Organizers
  • #ZeroWasteCities. The Zero Waste Masterplan
  • ZWC-Manual_20200725-1-5.pdf
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