Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strengthens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil Across the world, companies are scaling up efforts to minimize their environmental impact to meet their corporate goals and government regulations. In Brazil, the Associação Brasileira da Indústria de Higiene Pessoal, Perfumaria, e Cosméticos (ABIHPEC) is the industry association for the personal hygiene and cosmetics sector. The association helps its members to comply with Brazil’s National Solid Waste Policy, which requires manufacturers or suppliers to recover the waste from their products after end- use. The policy recognizes that waste pickers are key to this and encourages companies to integrate waste pickers’ cooperatives into their programs The Challenge Inclusive Employment Solutions ABIHPEC’s members aim to recover 22 percent of the waste they In 2006, ABIHPEC launched the Dê a Mão Para o Futuro (DAMF) produce.i Given that only a quarter of Brazil’s municipalities have program, renamed Mãos Pro Futuro (MPF) in 2023, to partner with segregation-at-source collection systems, waste pickers play a key waste picker cooperatives. Two other industry association later role in helping ABIHPEC to meet that goal. As of 2021, there were an joined the program, which strengthens the operations of waste estimated 281,000 waste pickers across Brazil, of which 87 percent pickers and enables ABIHPEC members to meet their reverse were working informally in poor conditions with low earnings. Some logistics and recycling obligations. 30 percent of waste pickers are women and 72 percent are of Afro- Brazilian heritage and mixed-race.ii As of 2019, only 5 percent of waste pickers belonged to a formally-registered cooperative.iii Participation Benefits for Business Equipment and training for cooperatives on technical skills, leadership, entrepreneurship, Volume of collected recyclables grew marketing, and administration. from 3,906 tons in 2013 to 163,845 tons in 2022. The use of recycled materials Supply Chain generated $144 million in savings Resilience: between 2013 and 2022. Resilience Waste pickers who join cooperatives gain access to social security systems and government pensions. Companies are able to comply with government reverse logistics Reputation & Risk requirements. Management Empowerment Supports self-organization of cooperatives Benefits for Workers and builds their negotiating power. Public campaigns highlight the value of waste In 2020, 52 percent of the self-employed waste pickers in the MPF pickers’ work. program earned over the minimum wage, compared to 33 percent of all waste pickers. The program also improved their working conditions, public recognition, and access to social safety nets. 1 Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strenghtens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil Industry: Personal hygiene and cosmetics Members: 204 companies, from small to medium enterprises, to multinationals such as Natura, Unilever, and L’Oréal. Base of the Pyramid Workforce: 182 cooperatives and 6,000 waste pickers in over 165 Brazilian municipalities. Overall, women represent 30% of waste pickers, while among cooperative members, that rises to 55%. 2 Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strenghtens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil How ABIHPEC Puts Inclusive Employment Solutions into Practice Advancement: Build capacity for self-employment Empowerment: Support self-organization of informal workers To increase cooperatives’ productivity and waste pickers’ incomes, MPF provides equipment such as trucks, forklifts, MPF empowers waste pickers by supporting their pressing machines, and conveyer belts that improve cooperatives’ self-organization into cooperatives. This includes administrative collection and sorting so that they can process and sell larger volumes support to formalize sales through invoices, which enables MPF of higher-quality recyclables. to pay the cooperatives directly for the reverse logistics services that they provide. This provides an extra income stream for the Along with the equipment, which is MPF’s largest financial cooperatives, in addition to their sales of waste to private recycling investment, the program works with non-governmental companies and their collection services for municipalities. organizations to develop waste pickers’ technical, administrative, entrepreneurial, and marketing skills so that they can manage As of 2022, 95 percent of MPF cooperatives had formalized the sale their cooperatives and operations better, as well as identify market of their recyclables with invoices. The remaining 5 percent were opportunities and secure higher prices. cooperatives that had just joined the program. At the beginning of the program in 2006, only 2 percent of cooperatives had formalized MPF also identifies potential leaders in the cooperatives, and then sales processes. provides them with supervisory skills training to develop their capacity. Half of the waste pickers in MPF cooperatives are women The MPF program further strengthens the negotiating power of and they are often the beneficiaries of this training. The impact cooperatives by building their connections with large recycling companies. This enables cooperatives to sell their recyclables has been substantial—for example, after joining MPF in 2018, five directly and cuts out intermediaries, which increases the cooperatives in the state of Goiania saw their productivity increase cooperatives’ market access and gives their waste pickers higher by 20 percent by 2020, despite the adverse impact of the COVID-19 and more reliable earnings.vii In 2020, 52 percent of the self- lockdowns.v employed waste pickers in the program earned over the minimum wage, compared to only a third of all waste pickers. Resilience: Improve access to benefits Empowerment: Enhance public recognition In MPF cooperatives, waste pickers can formally become self-employed members, which means that the cooperative ABIHPEC runs public awareness campaigns to will pay a percentage of their social security contributions so that promote the MPF program and to highlight the importance of when they retire, they will get a government pension. waste pickers’ work, which helps to improve attitudes towards During COVID-19 lockdowns, ABIHPEC provided $113 in cash waste pickers and their status in Brazilian society. According to an assistance to each picker at 150 cooperatives.vi These transfers MPF program representative, such positive recognition is one of were important in helping to replace waste pickers’ lost income, the most significant benefits for waste pickers. and in maintaining strong relations between the industry associations and the cooperatives, which helped to support the recycling system. “For waste pickers, a key benefit is their improved status in society, through highlighting the importance of their role as agents of environmental protection and change.” Ricardo Abussafy de Souza, Reverse Logistics Manager, MPF 3 Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strenghtens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil The Benefits for Business: ABIHPEC’s experience The MPF program provides notable benefits for its members, such as assurance that the MPF cooperatives are complying with government regulations; reputational gains and marketing value; and cost-savings. Supply chain resilience Reputation and risk management By strengthening the capacity of waste pickers’ The most significant benefit that companies and cooperatives, the MPF program contributes to better integrated industry associations gain from participating in the MPF program and systematic waste supply chains, which improves the efficiency is confidence that they are complying with the government’s and reliability of collection and recycling activities. reverse logistics requirements. Companies also benefit from their As a large-scale collaborative program, MPF provides companies, association with a reputable, nationwide program. including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with a reverse From a risk management perspective, MPF enables participating logistics initiative that has national reach—something that would associations, including ABIHPEC, to take a future-oriented approach be impossible for most companies to achieve on their own. This to compliance. By going beyond their current legal obligations and also allows companies to pool their resources to achieve greater setting ambitious recycling targets, the associations participating impact, with notable cost savings. For example, the scale of the MPF in MPF are well-prepared to comply with future statutory program enables it to purchase tools and equipment in bulk, which requirements that will likely be more extensive.viii Participation brings down participating companies’ costs. in MPF also means that ABIHPEC and its member companies are better prepared to engage in public policy dialogue on issues relevant to the program. “Multinationals have the capacity to establish their own project, but that’s not the case for SMEs. MPF provides a solution for the industry as a whole.” Ricardo Abussafy de Souza, Reverse Logistics Manager, MPF 4 Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strenghtens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil Endnotes & Sources In addition to workforce and other company data provided by ABIHPEC, and company interviews and focus group discussions conducted in February 2022, sources include: i Abussafy de Souza, Ricardo and Rosa Hernandes. 2020. O Big Push da Reciclagem no Brasil: Programa Dê a Mão para o Futuro e a sustentabilidade da logística reversa de embalagens:“ , Brasilia: United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean https://biblioguias.cepal.org/c.php?g=981128&p=7146627 ii Ibid iii Ibid v MPF (Dê a Mão para o Futuro). 2021. Relatório Annual 2020. http://maoparaofuturo.org. br/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/RELAT%C3%93RIO-ANUAL-2020-PROGRAMA-DE- LOG%C3%8DSTICA-REVERSA-%C2%A8DE-A-M%C3%83O-PARA-O-F....pdf vi Ibid Dagnino, Ricardo de Sampaio and Igor Cavallini Johansen. 2017. Os catadores no Brasil: vii características demográficas e socioeconômicas dos coletores de material reciclável, classificadores de resíduos e varredores a partir do censo demográfico de 2010. Brasília: Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada. http://repositorio.ipea.gov.br/handle/11058/7819 MPF (Dê a Mão para o Futuro). 2021. Relatório Annual 2020. http://maoparaofuturo.org. viii br/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/RELAT%C3%93RIO-ANUAL-2020-PROGRAMA-DE- LOG%C3%8DSTICA-REVERSA-%C2%A8DE-A-M%C3%83O-PARA-O-F....pdf IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 5 Supporting Cooperatives: How ABIHPEC Strenghtens Recycling, Supply Chains, and Livelihoods for Waste Pickers in Brazil