H&M foundation creates a collective impact initiative to equip waste pickers

New Delhi, June 17 Together with an ecosystem of partners, non-profit H&M foundation launched a first-of-its-kind $11million initiative in 2020, to address the gaps in the system that keep Bengaluru waste pickers in poverty and exclusion. Now, plastic waste collected by informal waste pickers is becoming a valued resource in the fashion and textile industry, providing a higher income and recognition as an integral part of the circular value chain.

Buttons partly made from plastic waste are now featured on garments sold worldwide. the buttons are traceable down to the source of the waste along with names of workers, social security, salaries and working conditions at the aggregation center.

In 2022, the H&M foundation initiated Saamuhika Shakti, a collective impact initiative aiming to equip waste pickers to lift themselves out of poverty through a holistic ecosystem of organisations. Eight local partners are working together to support the waste picker community in various aspects, that the waste pickers have themselves identified, such as safe working conditions, access to social services and good quality education, water and sanitisation, up-skilling or access to alternative jobs, innovations in waste management streams that are inclusive and provide livelihoods to the waste pickers, a shift in the way the population think about waste pickers, as well as increasing economic opportunities.

Two years in the making, Saamuhika Shakti is already impacting around 20,000 waste pickers, including their families and has caught the attention of others. With the fashion and textile industry working to shift business models from linear to circular, sustainable materials are in demand, and recycled plastic plays a vital part in creating a regenerative industry.

The H&M group has now become a business partner with the social enterprise Hasiru Dala innovations, placing orders for millions of buttons partly made from recycled PET bottles