Comment: How businesses can address human rights issues in their plastics supply chains
An estimated 20 million people work informally in waste management around the world, especially in the Global South. They make up 60% of the world’s recycling workforce. In places where there is not adequate official infrastructure – like rubbish collections, recycling centres and waste treatment plants – these informal workers collect reusable materials, such as plastic bottles, from street bins, coastlines and unmanaged waste sites to sell to recyclers and their intermediaries.