Assessing DRS as a model
for waste picker inclusion

Waste pickers are prolific recyclers and experts in reuse—and their work is essential to the success of Deposit Return Systems (DRS) around the world. But new research finds the vast majority of these systems were designed without considering waste pickers, missing key opportunities for success.

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Assessing Deposit Return Systems as a model for waste picker inclusion in reuse and recycling was co-published by the North America Waste Pickers Alliance (NAWPA) and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP). It analyzes DRS models in several countries to shed light on how the broad range of systems serve—or fail to serve—waste pickers.

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“Even where waste pickers are included in national waste management legislation, existing systems have been designed without them,” says Taylor Cass Talbott, the research paper’s author.

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Cass Talbott is a leading expert in inclusive DRS and a long-time advocate for the millions of workers who make their living collecting, sorting and recycling others’ waste. She is the executive director of Ground Score Association in the United States, which runs a recycling depot managed and staffed by waste pickers.

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“Now, proponents of reuse systems are looking to DRS as a model for how reuse can work at scale,” Cass Talbott explains. “By analyzing existing DRS models and making recommendations for waste picker inclusion, we hope to ensure that new systems for both reuse and recycling are better designed to avoid the pitfalls.”

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Recommendations focus on making systems that create decent livelihoods and occupational conditions for waste pickers. They include: 

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• integrating a greater variety of materials in reuse/recycling DRS;

• resisting full automation of systems so that low-barrier employment opportunities and cash payouts for unbanked individuals are available;

• setting adequate deposit amounts and handling fees to sustain the system;

• allowing informal collection in public spaces/bins and curbside, and letting anyone returning materials receive the deposit or premium.

• creating geographically decentralised networks of depots and giving priority to social enterprises, cooperatives, and non-profit depots that provide formal livelihoods for low-income or vulnerable employees.

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To ensure system integrity and transparency, guidelines should be mandated by the state,  and waste pickers should be mentioned and defined in policy.  

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Most significantly, waste picker organisations should be consulted at all stages of the development of any system.

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Read Assessing Deposit Return Systems as a model for waste picker inclusion in reuse and recycling.