7 Steps for Waste Picker Integration
Waste picker integration requires a significant shift in how municipalities and industry have developed and run waste picker projects in the past, because it requires them develop, implement, and revise waste picker integration plans and projects in partnership with waste pickers.
The Waste Picker Integration Guideline presents a 7 Step process that municipalities and industry can use to work together with waste pickers on integration. Here we present a poster and written resource to explain each step. We also provide a range of written and visual resources that you can draw on to deepen your understanding of what the step means, why it is necessary, what it can look like in practice, and what it means to waste pickers.
You can use some or all of these resources if you are facilitating a workshop, teaching a class, making a presentation, doing research on the 7 Steps, or in a Waste Picker Integration Working Group developing an integration plan.
The 7 Steps talk about municipalities, but industry, Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), companies, NGOs, and anyone working on programmes with waste pickers can follow the same steps, modifying them as necessary.
In Step 1, the municipality prepares to work with waste pickers on integration by: establishing an internal integration task team; strengthening team members’ understanding of waste pickers, their contributions, and waste picker integration; making an official commitment to integration; and analysing what the municipality is already doing related to waste picker integration, including separation at source and other programmes that may have negative consequences for waste pickers (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Tool 1 – Establishing an Internal Task Team (published in 2022)
Tool 2 – Analysing existing policies (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – Waste Picker Integration Guideline (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – What is Waste Picker Integration? (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – Why does Waste Picker Integration matter? (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – Municipal officials and integration (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & reclaiming – Reclaimers & their work (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & reclaiming – Reclaimer contributions (published in 2022)
Poster – Separation at Source and Waste pickers (published in 2022)
Poster – Key points about WP integration (published in 2022)
Gender and waste picking (published in 2022)
Reclaimer profiles (published in 2022)
Photo essays (published in 2022)
Step 2 focuses on how the municipality can develop a working partnership with waste pickers, and how the municipality and waste pickers can establish a collaborative Waste Picker Integration Working Group that will develop the Waste Picker Integration Plan (WPIP) and oversee its implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and revision (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Waste picker integration – Partnership vs charity (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & Reclaiming – Waste picker organisations in SA (published in 2022)
Written case study – Integrating landfill waste pickers (published in 2022)
Reclaimer profile – Eva Mokoena – Organising (published in 2022)
Reclaimer profile – Lefa Mononga – A natural leader (published in 2022)
Tool 3 – Checklist for meetings (published in 2022)
Webinar – Partnering with reclaimers (published in 2022)
Step 3 helps the collaborative Waste Picker Integration Working Group to go through the key issues that need to be discussed and addressed in the Waste Picker Integration Plan. It also (WPIP) gives examples of the kinds of programmes that could be included in the (WPIP) (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Tool 6 – Waste Picker Integration Plan template (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & Reclaiming – Common needs (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & Reclaiming – Gender and waste picking (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – Kickstarting integration (published in 2022)
Tool 5 – Key features of pilot projects (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration – Separation at source and integration (published in 2022)
Reclaimers & Reclaiming – Social plans for landfill reclaimers (published in 2022)
Tool 4 – Addressing typical problems (published in 2022)
Case studies (published in 2022)
In Step 4, the collaborative Waste Picker Integration Working Group: 1) identifies the actions that need to be taken by the municipality to create a supportive environment for waste picker integration, and 2) ensures that these measures are put in place (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Waste picker integration – Enabling national environment (published in 2022)
Tool 7 – Enabling the Waste Picker Integration Plan (published in 2022)
Written Case Study – Zoning regulations – Cape Town (published in 2022)
Written case study – Integrating landfill waste pickers (published in 2022)
Photo essay 8 – Palmer street recycling facility (published in 2022)
Video – Infrastructure for integration – eThekwini (published in 2022)
Waste picker integration will only succeed if it is included in all key municipal planning documents, such as the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP). Step 5 focuses on how to institutionalize the Waste Picker Integration Plan (WPIP) (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Waste picker integration – Enabling national environment (published in 2022)
Step 6 focuses on how to implement the Waste Picker Integration Plan (WPIP) and how to use participatory monitoring and evaluation methods to track its progress (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Tool 9 – Checklist for M & E (published in 2022)
In Step 7, the collaborative Working Group (which should be transformed into a permanent Waste Picker Integration Committee by this point) revises the Waste Picker Integration Plan (WPIP) based on analysis of the monitoring and evaluation outcomes. Changes in the broader context that have implications for the WPIP should also be taken into account when revising the WPIP (published in 2022).
Additional resources:
Tool 10 – Revise the Waste Picker Integration Plan (published in 2022)
