This project will monitor in near real time the impacts of extreme weather events on waste picker cooperatives across six Brazilian cities. The year-long project focuses on climate-related damage to the infrastructure of sorting spaces and waste pickers’ working conditions and income, and will support adaptation and just transition strategies.
ShareThe project addresses the growing impacts of climate change – particularly heatwaves and floods – on the livelihoods of waste pickers in Brazil. These workers are disproportionately affected by extreme weather, which damages cooperatives’ sorting centres, disrupts operations, and threatens workers’ income and health. Despite waste pickers’ essential role in urban resilience and the circular economy, the impacts on their workplaces remain hidden.
The project establishes a near-real-time monitoring system to document the impacts in Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Manaus, Belém, Brasília, and Florianópolis, focusing on cooperatives’ infrastructure and the working conditions of both women and men waste pickers. Data is collected through surveys, climate alerts and testimonies from waste picker leaders and local technicians. This approach combines qualitative and quantitative methods, strengthens local adaptation strategies, and informs inclusive climate policies. The initiative is led by WIEGO, in partnership with the University of Sheffield, and supported by ABIHPEC’s Reverse Logistics Programme, Mãos Pro Futuro.
The project uses a near-real-time monitoring system to assess the impacts of extreme weather events on waste picker cooperatives in six Brazilian cities. Activities include conducting surveys, interviews, issuing climate alerts and summaries of data collected, climate literacy and sensitization, and policy advocacy.
The system enables rapid documentation of loss and damages, coping strategies, health impacts, and adaptation needs. It strengthens awareness among cooperatives and workers about climate change, enhances stakeholder engagement, and generates evidence to inform inclusive climate adaptation policies.