Women Recyclers Empowerment Initiative #WREI

The Women Recyclers Empowerment Initiative (WREI) is an initiative designed to provide women recyclers utilizing our recycling hubs with the opportunity to increase their earning capacity, learn skills and give them the power to make positive decisions to better their lives. WREI aims to empower local women recyclers through the formation of cooperatives from recycling clusters to provide capacity building opportunities and provide them with an alternate source of income to help support their family needs. Through the Initiative, we will be promoting sustained livelihood for the women and contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #1, #2, #4, #5, #7, #8 and #13.

VISION: To empower local women with skills and business opportunities to attain a sustained alternate means of livelihood, financial independence and personal development.

BENEFITS: WREI gives women recyclers the opportunity to:

• Start a retail business trading in a variety of fast-moving consumer goods.

• Participate in vocational skill acquisition and personal development training.

• Purchase and become distributors of the ‘Happy’ clean-cook stoves to replace wood and kerosene burners at a cheaper rate.

• Purchase and become distributors of Pad-up menstrual kits for themselves and women in their communities. Pad-up menstrual kits are washable and reusable sanitary pads, which provide effective protection to the user for a minimum period of 1 year.

• Pay the fees of their Primary school-aged children, especially girls, through our Bottles for Books Initiative using their collected recyclable wastes.

• Become part of a cooperative that caters to their individual welfare and retail businesses.