Resources on cooperatives

  1. How cooperatives can help Brazil’s waste pickers build back from COVID-19

    03 July 2020

    This year’s International Day of Cooperatives on 4 July will focus on climate action. Waste pickers’ cooperatives in Brazil are examples of how cooperatives can help combat climate change, while facing the challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  2. Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home-based workers and waste pickers - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    03 August 2017

    This report on “Cooperation among workers in the informal economy: A focus on home-based workers and waste pickers” is part of a joint ILO and WIEGO initiative, which aims to understand the nature and scope of cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy enterprises and organizations formed by workers in the informal economy. It focuses on the current challenges, opportunities, obstacles and practices among cooperatives of waste pickers and home-based workers in order to inform future actions and interventions that support cooperative growth.

  3. A passion, mission - organizing waste pickers.

    21 December 2016

    During “The Potential of Cooperatives & the Role of Waste Pickers in the Recycling Sector” workshop in Ankara, Turkey, on 20-21 December 2016, ILO COOP spoke to Manuel Mateu an Engineer from the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) in Argentina, about his work as an organiser of waste pickers.

  4. The dreams and reality of a waste picker

    21 December 2016

    During “The Potential of Cooperatives & the Role of Waste Pickers in the Recycling Sector” workshop in Ankara, Turkey, on 20-21 December 2016, ILO COOP spoke to Fehmi Celikok, a waste picker from Turkey, about his life as a waste picker

  5. Step forward for waste pickers in Turkey

    21 December 2016

    A workshop “Understanding the Role of Waste Pickers and their Cooperatives in Waste Management and Recycling”, organized by the ILO and the Ministry of Customs and Trade was held in Ankara, Turkey, on 20-21 December.

  6. Turning computer junk into jobs

    18 January 2013

    Vast amounts of electrical and electronic waste end up in developing countries where the recycling methods are often hazardous. Integrating informal e-waste operations into the formal sector can help make the process safer, according to an ILO study titled "The global impact of e-waste".