The waste value chain, from waste collection to sorting and recycling, has the potential to increase decent work and green business development. Sustainable waste management is an opportunity to promote social inclusion, as well as upgrade the quality of existing jobs.

The International Training Center of ILO in Turin has organized its 2019 edition of the course on waste management with a focus on “Promoting green jobs and business opportunities in the waste sector” between 11–15 November 2019. In this course, participants developed business solutions and facilitated the transition to greener economies. This course provided an opportunity to join the conversation and tap together into the potential for decent work promotion and green business development across the waste hierarchy, with a focus on waste collection; reuse, refurbishment and remanufacturing; sorting and recycling; as well as reduction at source.

ILO COOP contributed to the course with a focus on the role of cooperative business model in waste management. Two ILO COOP staff members reflected on the role of cooperatives among waste pickers in improving the negotiation power of their members, improving their working conditions and integrating them into the waste management chains in a number of countries from Brazil, India, Colombia and Argentina. Participants from a number of countries including Malawi, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Georgia reflected on the viability of the cooperative model in their country contexts.