Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality in Waste Management and Recycling: Global Landscape

The economic and environmental dangers of ocean plastic pollution require immediate global interventions that address mismanaged plastic waste at its source: on land. Most ocean plastic pollution comes from developing countries—notably coastal countries with rapidly urbanizing populations—which tend to have weak solid waste management systems and lack formal recycling. While growing awareness of waste’s economic value and the benefits of resource efficiency has led to increased municipal and private investment in solid waste management (SWM) and recycling, the informal sector, where women are present in the greatest numbers, continues to fill critical gaps in urban service delivery.

Women and the challenges they face in SWM and recycling lack visibility, largely due to the chronic absence of both sector-wide and sex-disaggregated data.