H&M launches new program for waste pickers in India
22 June 2022, Mumbai:
Global retailer H&M has launched a new program where all products made by the H&M Group in India including shirts, blouses, skirts, etc will have buttons crafted from post-consumer recycled plastic collected by waste pickers in Bengaluru. A part of H&M Foundation’s four-year initiative, ‘Saamuhika Shakti’ the program is being executed in partnership with social enterprises like Hasiru Dala Innovations and WaterAid India, etc. According to Maria Bystedt, Strategy Lead, H&M Foundation, the Saamuhika Shakti has benefitted 20,000 waste pickers and 2.6 million people from the general population of Bengaluru.
Shekar Prabhakar, Co-founder & CEO, Hasiru Dala Innovations says, the buttons are traceable down to the source of PET waste, names of the workers, social security, salaries and working conditions at the collection center. The program will ensure fair price to waste pickers, immediate payment through bank transfers and assured offtake. In the long term, it will integrate waste pickers and informal waste workers in the circular economy supply chain by providing them with an access to end-user markets.
