GFI Founder’s Update-February 2022
A circular economy of and for the working poor
The circular economy is on the minds of many with its promises of growth, while conserving limited resources and eliminating waste. Many even believe the circular economy has the potential to increase economic prosperity while reducing emissions.
So, what is a circular economy? It’s an economic model of production and consumption that favors sharing, reusing, repairing, and recycling existing material to reduce the wear and tear we are putting on the environment. The principles behind a circular economy are eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials and regenerating nature. Many also see links to addressing poverty and more decent work for the working poor. I am one of these.
Given what we know about the working poor — especially those working in the informal economy — can the circular economy provide meaningful livelihood opportunities? Would these jobs be sustainable? Safe? Protected? Like other questions related to improving livelihoods the answer is…it depends.
In many ways the working poor are already contributing to a circular economy. Because of their limited income, they are reusing and repairing goods — they are not able to simply throw away what is no longer useful. Because they have limited access to energy, water, and other natural resources the developed world over uses, they are conserving what little they have. They are also circulating these products back into the economy through small recycling enterprises and the sale of recycled or repurposed goods.
If in advance, the role of the poor in a circular economy is considered by the leaders and corporations who determine it is the best path for the planet’s future, then the transition to could help alleviate poverty. Here are some examples:
For decades, women members of SEWA www.sewa.org have worked as waste pickers, supplying an informal market for recyclable materials and earning a basic income. Working with SEWA many have now become fully embedded in the recycling economy, providing repurposed products to a formal market. SEWA’s Gitanjali Cooperative creates paper goods made from fully recycled waste produced and marketed by SEWA’s women members and sold to consumers under the Gitanjali brand. If retailers and consumers of paper goods are intentional about promoting a circular global economy, they will not only purchase recycled paper products, but also purchase products produced by the working poor so that planet AND prosperity go hand in hand. (Learn more about the SEWA’s Gitanjali Cooperative here)
And, when GFI worked with SEWA to lower energy costs for women salt farmers, one of the first transitions was to swap out kerosene lanterns for solar powered lanterns which both saved women from bearing the cost of kerosene and also improved both their personal health and larger environmental wellbeing. The 15,000 solar lamps that were distributed through the Slat Lantern program produced hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for the woman farmers and eliminated a highly toxic and polluting product from the homes of thousands of families.
In many ways, poor women and men have always been working in a circular economy, not by design, but by circumstances — the circumstances of their poverty. They also happen, by virtue of these circumstances, to be the tip of the spear of the circular economy. They are the de facto recycling providers of most developing economies; they are the biggest beneficiaries of work to reduce energy costs and improve climate resilience; and by necessity they understand the value of conserving what little you have. If the poor are made a central part of the transition to a circular economy it seems certain that more opportunities could result that tie planet to people, and benefit both.
Sincerely,
Karen Tramontano
President and Founder
