Stakeholders meet with Zambia Environmental Management Agency and WECF in Lusaka, 21 January 2026 (photo credit: David Kashiki)

Zambia’s location

Women waste pickers – priorities and concerns 

The WECF expert team visited the main landfill in Lusaka to discuss with women and men whose daily job is picking and sorting municipal waste. The majority of waste pickers are women, with an estimate 700 to 900 women workers daily on the site. They collect glass, metals, carton and plastic waste by colour and type, extracting these from amongst the mostly rotting green garbage. And estimated 60-70% of the waste volume is green waste.  

The waste collectors then sell bags of plastics by type and colour to buyers who are often working with Chinese recyclers. The responsibility for waste management was developed from the national agency ZEMA to the city of Lusaka, who is working on a waste pickers inclusion strategy. The manager of the landfill encourages waste pickers to use personnel protective equipment (PPE) as many waste pickers suffer from skin and respiratory diseases.  

The waste pickers expressed their vision for a future in which they would have access to a safe site – under a roof – and access to machinery for crushing and shredding plastics as this increases the price they can obtain from the recyclers. They worry that with new policies aiming at separating waste at the source, or in decentralized transition sites across the city, would result in a loss of income. Waste pickers live directly next to the landfill.  

Meeting the women plastic waste collectors (photo credit David Kashiki)

Waste pickers opening waste bags to collect recyclables (photo credit David Kashiki)

Women organic farmers – unknowingly exposed to toxics from plastics 

The WECF team visited a group of women organic farmers (500) near Mambwa town, who are part of the Green Livelihoods Movement (GLM), one of the Gender Just Climate Solutions award winners (link to GJCS). The women farmers grow organic maize, fruits and vegetables and have a indigenous plants seed bank to protect their food sovereignty from imported sterile seeds sold by pesticide companies such as Monsanto-Bayer. GLM also has a fund for livestock for single-women households, to promote organic livestock husbandry (chicken, goats).  

During the discussions and visits to the field, the women farmers showed how they manage their waste, which is all burned by them in shallow pits in the ground, and then they use the ashes on the fields. This is a traditional waste management process which did not pose problems when only organic green waste is concerned, but now the waste is mixed with plastics. Plastics contain toxic chemicals, including chemicals that can disrupt the hormone system and lead to reproductive health impacts such as infertility and cancer. However, the community leaders who set the rules for waste management have no knowledge of the toxic chemicals contained in plastics, and there exists no waste collection in the rural areas. 

Meeting the women farmers of the GLM project (photo credit David Kashiki)

Discussing with women organic farmers how to address pollution from waste burning  (photo credit S. Gabizon, WECF)

Stakeholders and government engage towards solutions 

The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) with WECF organised a stakeholder meeting on the 21st of January 2026 to engage different sectors in sharing good practices for inclusive and safe management of plastic waste in line with the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The acting director general of ZEMA, Ms Karen Etondo opened the meeting where 30 participants from business, civil society, local and national authorities and science and media were attending. In her welcoming address which was shown on national television, Director Etondo called from inclusion of women and vulnerable populations, and the safe management of plastic waste. She emphasized the fight against plastic waste must be gender-sensitive, seen in the light that many informal waste workers are women. She said that many plastics contain hazardous chemicals and that human health should be protected from plastic pollution, “plastics are not only an environmental concern, they are a public health issue”. She called for education on health risks associated with plastic waste, and promotion of safe handling of waste also at household levels and the recognition of waste pickers and their integration into municipal waste processes. Looking forward she called for safety trainings, use of PPEs and mandatory labelling. She also called to promote ventures that produce biodegradable locally sourced alternatives to plastics. These sectors can be a source of livelihoods for women.  

General Director ZEMA, Karin Etondo, at the stakeholder meeting on gender and plastic waste in Lusaka, 21 January 2026 (photo credit David Kashiki)

WECF Executive Director Sascha Gabizon highlighted the efforts being made globally to address the damage from plastic pollution to public health, environment and economic sectors such as agriculture and water supply, in particular the ongoing negotiations to agree on a global Treaty to end plastic pollution. She noted that most consumers are unaware that plastics contain toxic chemicals that are released when used, heated, burned or when degrading into water and soil. She gave the example of our clothes, most of which nowadays contain plastics and chemicals that might disrupt the hormone system, and effect our reproductive health. A national inventory of plastic waste which is being made for Zambia should give better data on the main sources and stream of plastic pollution, such as single-use plastic bottles and packaging amongst others. The gender and plastics sub-project which WECF is working on with ZEMA should in addition show the differentiated impacts that plastic pollution has on the different genders, looking at reducing damage, but also looking at potential for jobs not only in recycling but also in the production of alternatives to plastics. 

Experts from Kenya and Indonesia Mr Griffins Ochieng and Ms Yuyun Ismawati gave example and data from the ongoing project on gender and chemicals in other countries, providing examples of gender differentiated impacts of plastic pollution as well as policies that promote solutions. In interactive breakout groups, the stakeholders shared their experience from Zambia and their recommendations for solutions. Engaging educators, women’s organisations, waste worker unions and entrepreneurs needs to be part of the transition. First and foremost, “everybody should be aware that burning plastic waste is the worst thing to do, as it will spread toxic pollutants into the air and into the food chain”, concluded Sascha Gabizon from the break out session. 

Expert Yuyun Ismawati speaking at the stakeholder meeting in Lusaka (photo credit David Kashiki)

The situation analysis furthermore included visits to a recycling enterprise, the ministry responsible for occupational health as well as the city council of Lusaka responsible for waste management.  

Sascha Gabizon WECF, speaking at the stakeholder meeting as relayed on national television