WASTE PICKING AS SOCIAL PROVISIONING: CONSTRUCTING A SOCIALLY REGENERATIVE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Implementing a circular economy in Latin America can be an opportunity to include recyclers and other informal workers in the economy. The sensemaking of becoming female waste picker leaders is explored through in-depth interviews with ten women from Colombia and Ecuador. The modifying effect of leading an association is rooted in social provisioning communities formed to exchange material, training and create social safety nets. A framework that combines the 9Rs of the circular economy with the demands for recyclers' dignity, care-work counting, and environmental justice is presented to promote a socially restorative and regenerative circular economy.