16 December 2025, Bangkok, Thailand
UNEP International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC)and the IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (IGES-CCET) co-organised a session on gender and informal sector integration in waste management at SEA of Solutions Forum 2025. The Forum, convened by UNEP and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asian (UNEP-COBSEA) from 16-17 December 2025 in Bangkok, brought together diverse stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region, including government representatives, experts, the private sector and youth, to address plastic pollution and marine litter.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Hiroshi Ono, Executive Director of Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), highlighted the critical role of informal waste workers: Informal waste workers many of them women are the backbone of resource recovery and recycling. To achieve sustainable and inclusive waste management, we must integrate gender considerations and recognise the informal sector as an essential partner in circular economy transitions.
The session highlighted how gender inequalities and the limited recognition of informal workers continue to shape waste systems across the region and explored entry points for integrating gender and the informal sector in waste management.
Forthcoming Report by UNEP-IETC and IGES-CCET
The session introduced UNEPs upcoming publication, tentatively titled Gender and Informal Sector Integration in Waste Management: Case studies from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Indonesia. The authors, Dr. Premakumara Jagath Dickella Gamaralalage (Director, IGES-CCET), Ms. Siti Ainun (Lecturer, Institut Teknologi Nasional Bandung, Indonesia) and Ms. Sereyroth Lim (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Consultant, Cambodia), presented their preliminary findings from Cambodia and Indonesia, highlighting that waste management is not only a technical or environmental issue but is also influenced by gender norms, social structures and economic inequalities.
The report finds that while women often play central roles in household waste management and informal recycling, they remain underrepresented in decisionmaking and higherincome roles. It identifies six enablers for genderresponsive and inclusive waste systems, including policy coherence, community-based models, capacity building and inclusive infrastructure.
Panel Discussion
The panel brought diverse perspectives from the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, academia and civil society.
Reflecting on lessons across the region and beyond, Dr. Premakumara Gamaralalage underscored the diversity of the informal waste sector: The informal sector is not one single group. People work in different ways, at different times, with different needs. We cannot put all of them into one box. Their needs and their requirements are different.
Ms. Janu Dangol, Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, emphasised the need for legal recognition and stronger social protection, including health insurance, pensions, disability coverage and accident protection. She also stressed that women face additional barriers and require tailored support such as skill and technical training, childcare near the workplace, protection against harassment, appropriate sanitation and changing facilities, and PPE designed to fit women. She also underscored the importance of representation, noting that, Until and unless waste pickers are represented, their issues and voices are never covered and this must include women waste pickers.
From Thailand, Dr. Sujitra Vassanadumrongdee, Researcher at the Sustainable Environment Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, shared the countrys ongoing efforts to develop the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme as an opportunity to better integrate the informal sector into waste and circular economy systems. She also highlighted the need to address intersectional vulnerabilities: We are facing an ageing population. Think about the elderly women working in the informal sector they face double pressure. This is something we need to investigate further.
Bringing a community-level perspective, Ms. Antoinette Taus, Goodwill Ambassador for UNEP, showcased the EcoIkot Center in the Philippines, a women-led initiative, illustrating how community-driven models can strengthen both social inclusion and environmental outcomes. She closed with a powerful message: When you invest in women, you invest in communities and in our collective future.
Inclusion as a foundation for circularity
The discussion highlighted the need for stronger policy frameworks, social protection and inclusive practices to support informal waste workers, particularly women. Speakers underscored that recognising diverse forms of informal work, addressing intersecting vulnerabilities and ensuring meaningful representation are essential for building more equitable waste and circular economy systems.
Closing the session, Ms. Junko Fujioka, session moderator and gender focal point for UNEP-IETC, emphasized the need for solutions grounded in lived realities and addressing gender inequalities embedded in broader societal norms: We need solutions that are inclusive and responsive to realities on the ground from childcare to skills training and that challenge traditional norms assigning tasks differently to women and men.
By centering the needs and contributions of women and informal waste workers, governments and partners can advance circularity in ways that also strengthen social inclusion, resilience and justice.
