WOW Wala Usik

Women on Waste Management for Wala Usik

Solid waste management is considered a pressing global issue calling for an immediate response from the government and its people. The Philippines has a continuously rising amount of waste and is expected to further increase in the succeeding years. As reviewed, associated problems with solid waste management in the country include an increasing amount of solid waste, weak law implementation, scarcity of sanitary landfills, and improper disposal. (Coracero et al.)

The contribution of women can be seen at every stage of the waste value chain, from consumption and disposal, formal garbage collection, street sweeping, recycling and junkshop operation. Women’ role is valuable in waste management, as most waste pickers are women who work alongside the men of their family. Women are usually employed for sorting, cleaning and similar work while men are hired for more labor intensive activity.

As women perform in the waste management sector, they experience the social stigma where it is expected from them to balance the work, domestic demand and child care. They also face financial issues from working in waste management and exposure to possible health and safety issues.

Waste workers are frontline workers (particularly now with the on-going pandemic); they provide essential services to the community and they should not be marginalized, undervalued or unsupported.

The Women Waste Workers for Wala Usik: Co-Designing a Circular Economy or WOW Wala Usik was a short-term project (Nov 2021-Nov 2022) that aimed to increase awareness and inspire action toward gender-responsive waste management programs by the City Government of Talisay in Negros Occidental in the Philippines and their partners, towards buidling a circular economy.

The project provided opportunities for diverse stakeholders in involved in solid waste management (SWM), especially focused on female informal waste workers (waste pickers, street cleaners, junk collectors), the local government in charge of SWM programs and policies, and local civil society organizations and enterprises aligned with circular economy principles and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation, Inc (PRRCFI) was motivated to carry out this project because of the momentum it started in 2018 with the homegrown movement for ‘Wala Usik’ – a native phrase used as a cultural reminder to ‘not waste anything’, and to honor the value of materials produced and consumed. In the past 4 years, PRRCFI helped put into place key partnerships for this movement in Negros Island. These have produced valuable prototypes of innovative solutions and knowledge products for waste management and circular economy.

Impact Report

As part of its efforts to generate support for women and men informal waste workers who provide essential frontline services to the community, the project established a Circular Economic Empowerment Fund or CEEF to fund practical solutions born out of waste workers’ collaboration with stakeholders from local governments, the academe, and the private sector which was facilitated through a design thinking process, where empathy is the first step to identify aspects of women waste workers’ jobs that can be improved.

Photo Gallery

Empathy and Learning Exchange Visit

A trip to remember!

Our waste workers went to San Carlos City and Mun. of Binalbagan to learn and experience their technology, waste management practices and local gender policies.

Waste workers went to visit the San Carlos City Public Market and Sanitary Landfill, where a No Plastic policy is implemented in the City. They also visited the Blastik Project run by Peacepond, where they saw and experienced upcycling of plastic wastes.

Design Thinking Workshop

Through design thinking, we are empowering informal waste workers, particularly women, to voice their needs and ideas as front liners in reducing plastic pollution – so that we can have cleaner streets, oceans and beautiful communities.

Launching of Waste Innovations

After months of dialogue, data-gathering, ideation and initial testing phases, we’ve finally launched these waste management innovations that our partner Talisay waste workers co-designed themselves.

The goal of this effort is to assist them in their daily grind, so that they become more dignified and effective in their jobs. These solutions are born out of waste workers’ collaboration with stakeholders in a design thinking process, where they identified aspects of their job that can be improved.