Better health, better environment: Women recyclers in Ecuador

In Ecuador, thousands of women recyclers start their day before sunrise. Donning gloves and a mask, they visit markets, residential streets and landfill sites to collect waste and recyclables such as plastic bottles, cardboard and aluminum cans.   

They move quickly before heading to a sorting area where they separate plastics, flatten cans and bundle cardboard before transporting the items to a recycling centre. The work is exhausting and hazardous, earning them USD5-6 (CAD6.80-8.20) per day. There are about 20,000 informal recyclers in the country, of whom 70% are women. Many express great pride in contributing to Ecuador’s informal recycling system. As one noted, “We are the recyclers who clean our city and the whole world.”   

Women recyclers are an important part of Ecuador’s invisible care economy, providing recycling and garbage pick-up services to their municipalities. They risk their health and operate without formalized contracts that recognize their labour and the crucial role they play in creating a better and healthier environment.  

Research to improve conditions for women  

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted women working in Latin America’s care economy, affecting their health, wellness and working conditions. To help address these problems, a research project supported by IDRC examined the labour and health conditions of 300 women recyclers and waste pickers in three cities of Ecuador: Cuenca, Macas and La Libertad.  

The project, called Women recyclers’ work and health in the context of COVID-19 in Ecuador (RUMBOS), is part of the Women RISE initiative. Co-funded by IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the project team worked with local organizations and decision-makers to co-design and implement intersectoral interventions to address women waste pickers’ health and work conditions. 

Participatory research leads to rich results 

Researchers at the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador and McMaster University in Canada studied changes in the labour practices of women recyclers and waste pickers,  as well as interventions that improved their occupational health conditions. Researchers used a participatory approach, actively involving women recyclers at every stage of the project. 

At the diagnosis stage, the women responded to surveys and allowed anthropologists to observe them during their work. Then, in the analysis stage, the women co-developed solutions, helped set priorities and proposed actions based on local realities. During the intervention stage, women attended special activities, led ordinance processes and helped improve the intervention design and approach. 

Women’s working and household conditions do not match up to men 

In all locations studied (Cuenca, Macas and La Libertad), women recyclers and waste pickers make less money than men doing the same job. The women are still tasked with full domestic activities and caring for dependent family members, reinforcing traditional gender roles.  

Research team member Gabriela Chiriboga Herrera noted the demand placed on women, in this travel diary entry: “Once she gets home, Elena takes care of other household chores. She is responsible for preparing food, washing (by hand) their clothes and cleaning the house. She also takes care of feeding her chickens...This change of activity is perceived as a break from the incessant demands of recycling. It is not conceived as unpaid work nor is the distribution of these tasks between the two questioned.”  

As the research team noted, the data suggests that household and caregiving responsibilities tend to limit women’s economic opportunities and increase their workload compared to men. 

New cooperatives leverage the power of collective action 

The RUMBOS project led to the creation of COOPCOAMA, a recycling services cooperative in Cuenca. This cooperative supports collective work and enhances waste pickers’ agency in the recycling process. In Macas, a new recycling association known as the Amazonia Verde Association was formed to improve representation and collective action among local waste pickers.  

These new collectives provide workers with key support, including: 

• more options for labour negotiations with public or private companies  
• access to formal service contracts 
• new collection centres with better infrastructure to classify and sell recyclable materials 
• support from the cooperative for recyclers to access and manage social security 
• access to financial education and entrepreneurship programs to strengthen the economic independence of recyclers 

Moving from evidence to improved conditions for women workers 

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerabilities of informal labour and the women recyclers who care for their environment and the places where they live.  

The research team demonstrated the importance of working in collaboration with Ecuador’s recyclers with a participatory approach that yielded critical benefits for women workers, including improved health and labour conditions.  

Over the long term, the project is contributing to the institutionalization of women’s informal labour, formalizing their role in the recycling economy and keeping the environment and their communities clean. It is also empowering women workers and helping reshape the recycling economy into one that values equity, dignity and decent work. 

Contributors: Adrijana Corluka, senior program specialist, IDRC; Andrea Gomez Ayora, principal investigator of the RUMBOS team, the University of Cuenca.