Collection: Social Enterprise World Forum
Good Stories Episode 3 – how Mexico's waste pickers are getting decent, green economy jobs
Join Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons in Oaxaca state, Mexico, as he learns about how NGO SiKanda is supporting informal waste pickers to professionalise, set up enterprises and improve their communities’ waste management.
Love podcasts? Don't miss out on ours! Catch up on all our podcasts and subscribe free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Soundcloud.
A giant bin lorry roaring up a steep, dusty hill to unload at a waste disposal centre might not sound like the start of a story about the green economy.
But that’s exactly what Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons found when he visited San Lorenzo Cacaotepec in Oaxaca state, Mexico, where NGO SiKanda is supporting informal waste pickers to professionalise, set up enterprises and improve their communities’ waste management.
Informal waste pickers are some of the most excluded members of Mexican society, who scavenge through treacherous landfill sites to gather valuable materials they can sell on, facing daily risk of injury and illness. But through the partnership with SiKanda, the workers at San Lorenzo Cacaotepec now have proper health and safety, have become respected members of their community and are paid fairly for their work.
Listen to David as he speaks to the ‘recicladores’ in San Lorenzo Cacaotepec and the co-founder of SiKanda to learn more about:
- How SiKanda helps the recicladores capitalise on their entrepreneurial skills to professionalise, collaborate and create sustainable enterprise
- Why SiKanda doesn’t partner with municipalities which are only interested in improving their waste management, not improving workers' rights
- How the recicladores are creating compost from biowaste and using it to grow fruit and veg to sell to the local community
David visited San Lorenzo Cacaotepec as part of Impact Minds 2024, Latimpacto’s conference for venture philanthropists in Latin America and the Caribbean.
|
|
