India’s Recycling System Was Built by Waste Workers. EPR Must Not Leave Them Behind
For India’s EPR policies to succeed, the voices and work of informal waste workers must be at the center.
- Blog
- Dignified jobs
- India
A few months ago, I visited a waste management site in Kerala. There, I met a woman who had been collecting plastic waste door-to-door for years. She worked through the rain, managed dangerous waste, and earned barely enough to send her son to school. But she told me, with quiet pride, that for the first time in her life, she was being paid regularly—and treated with dignity.
That’s not a small thing. In India’s sprawling, informal waste economy, millions of workers don’t get either. Together with weak public infrastructure to recover and manage waste, the cost of responsible waste management is unsustainable
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was supposed to help change this. The idea is simple: producers should also bear the cost of the waste they create. But the implementation, particularly in plastics and e-waste, has fallen short. Workers, often itinerant waste collectors, remain unpaid or underpaid. Certification systems are confusing or inaccessible. And in some cases, small, informal players get locked out altogether, while big actors capture market share.
We now have a second chance with India’s new EPR framework for non-ferrous metals. If done right, it could support safer work, fairer pay, and formal dignity for over 1.5. If done poorly, it will entrench exclusion and inequality in a sector that was meant to uplift.
For decades, India’s recycling economy has run on the backs of kabadiwalas, safai sathis, and scrap traders who divert tonnes of waste from landfills every day. These workers may be labeled “informal,” but in reality, they are essential infrastructure. Yet most continue to live in poverty, without protection or recognition—largely overlooked by the very policymakers and producers now designing the rules meant to govern this sector.
EPR must evolve beyond paperwork and credits. It must reflect the true human cost of managing waste. That means setting a floor price for plastic and metal credits, mandating the inclusion of certified worker-first enterprises, and investing in local systems to implement these policies equitably.
Innovative enterprises like Green Worms and Bintix are already proving this is possible. Green Worms collects from over 6,000 women through local self-help groups and employs more than 700 workers, offers predictable pay, and treats its workers as professionals—with ID cards, safety gear, and respect. Bintix is a waste and data insights firm that partners with decentralized waste management enterprises for whom additional revenue streams from EPR and data insights is critical to operate sustainably in a thin-margin industry ensuring fair wages, dignified jobs and safer work practices for more than 120 frontline waste workers.
These aren’t pilot programs or dreams. They’re working models. But they need support—policy, funding, and public-private alignment—to scale.
Policymakers have the power to turn EPR into a tool for dignity, not just a system for tracking plastic. That means going beyond collection targets and ensuring the people doing the work are at the center of the policy. Mandate their inclusion, fund the systems that make it possible, and build capacity at the local level so no one is left out.
For producers, brands, and large companies covered under EPR regulations, this is a chance to lead. EPR shouldn’t sit in the compliance department—it should be a part of your core sustainability and supply chain strategy. That means working with partners who prioritize dignity and traceability, and paying the full cost of ethical recycling, not just the lowest possible rate.
And for funders and investors, the opportunity is clear: back enterprises that are building real livelihoods, not just more efficient systems. Blend your capital, de-risk the hard work, and help shape a waste sector that values people as much as it values progress.
This is not just a climate story. It’s not just a labor story. It’s a story about fairness.
For too long, India’s waste workers have protected our environment without recognition, safety, or fair pay. They’ve done the hard work. Now it’s time we do ours. Let’s build an EPR system that finally values the people who’ve always made recycling possible.
Curious to learn more? Read “What Waste Workers Want,” a report that highlights the voices of waste workers and shares how we can build a waste sector that puts people and the planet first. Download the report.
More from our Knowledge Hub
Embracing the S-word: How smart subsidies can spark innovation in emerging markets
When designed well, subsidies can accelerate innovation, fix broken markets, and pull tomorrow’s solutions forward.
