1x100

A data-driven campaign to document, finance and integrate the contribution of grassroots waste pickers to circularity and climate action. Over 400 days, 100,000 waste pickers take part in a collective challenge to recover 1 million tonnes of recyclable materials. The target serves five purposes:

• Operations. Set a concrete, time-bound recovery target.
• Resources. Build the case for mobilising resources.
• Data. Generate comparable data across territories.
• Evidence. Quantify waste pickers’ contribution.
• Narrative. Connect thousands of individual actions to one collective impact.

Fair Ton leads the 1x100 campaign alongside Global Methane Hub, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers and Fundación Avina.

Every day, millions of grassroots waste pickers recover materials that would otherwise go to landfills, open dumps or incineration, or leak into the environment. Their work underpins a large share of material recovery systems worldwide and contributes directly to the circular economy.

Their contribution remains largely invisible in discussions about climate action, a just transition and circularity, even though their daily work reduces final disposal, supplies secondary raw materials and lowers demand for virgin resources.

Much of this recovery happens in informal or under-recorded value chains. Public and private systems therefore lack the information they need to measure its scale, assess its environmental and climate benefits, and account for it in waste, circular economy and just transition policy.

Grassroots waste pickers collect, separate, sort and sell recyclable materials. They may work independently or within an organisation, in formal or informal settings. Their rights have historically been violated, and their roles in the recycling value chain can change over time. A waste picker may take on different roles within a cooperative, association or federation and remain a waste picker as long as they continue to work for that organisation.

Progress will be tracked through a public monitoring and visualisation system. Indicators marked C will be reported when methodology and data quality allow.

I.01 Participating waste pickers

Headcount, organisations and networks enrolled

I.02 Tonnes collected and recovered

Cumulative and by period

I.03 Material types and categories

Composition of recovered streams

I.04 Territories and cities

Geographic coverage of participation

I.05 Recovery trajectory

Progress over 400 days against the target

I.06 Materials re-entering recycling chains

Volumes reincorporated into value chains

I.07 Circularity indicators

System-level circularity metrics

C.08 Environmental and climate indicators

Examples include avoided disposal and potentially avoided emissions