Contested Waste: Environmental Conflicts and Waste Picker Resistance in the Global South

During this webinar, hosted by WIEGO and the University of Barcelona, the book Contested Waste: Environmental Conflicts and Waste Picker Resistance in the Global South, edited by Federico Demaria, Daniele Vico and Lucía Fernández Gabard, will be officially launched. The book examines how socio-environmental conflicts involving waste pickers in the Global South are largely driven by the privatization of waste management. These conflicts expose what the authors describe as the “recycling paradox”: while waste pickers make essential and often uncompensated contributions to environmental sustainability and recycling systems, they are increasingly excluded, displaced or criminalised by modern waste governance frameworks.

Drawing on an analysis of more than 70 conflicts documented in the Global Environmental Justice Atlas, the book traces how policies promoting privatization, incineration, landfill expansion and the enclosure of waste streams marginalize waste pickers across cities in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In the face of deepening exclusion, the book also highlights waste pickers’ collective resistance and organizing strategies in their struggle for more just and equitable waste systems.

On 26 February at 14:00 CET, researchers, waste picker representatives and practitioners will discuss the book’s findings and their implications for waste governance, environmental justice and informal work.

The webinar forms part of the University of Gothenburg’s Circular Grassroots Webinar Series, and the research draws on the Circular grassroots innovations for sustainable and inclusive urban transitions project.

Speakers

• Casper Edmonds, Head of Unit, Mining, Manufacturing & Energy, International Labour Organization
• Nohra Padilla, Asociación Nacional de Recicladores de Colombia
• Manisha Anantharaman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations (CNRS/Sciences Po)
• Federico Demaria, Serra Hunter Associate Professor in Ecological Economics and Political Ecology at the University of Barcelona
• Daniele Vico, Researcher in Political Ecology and Ecological Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Barcelona
• Lucía Fernández Gabard, Director of the Organisation and Representation Programme at WIEGO and Universidad de la República Uruguay

Moderator

• Federico Parra, Social and Solidarity Economy Specialist, WIEGO