Recycled plastic collected by waste pickers turned into 152 million buttons – catalysing inclusive circularity
In 2020, the philanthropic H&M Foundation launched a first of its kind USD 11 million initiative, Saamuhika Shakti, to address the gaps in the system that keep Bengaluru waste pickers in poverty and exclusion. Now, plastic waste collected by informal waste pickers is becoming a valued resource in the fashion and textile industry. Buttons partly made from the plastic waste are being featured on garments sold worldwide. The buttons are traceable down to the source of the waste along with names of the workers, social security, salaries and working conditions at the aggregation centre.With the
