Resources on Green Jobs
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News
ILO participates in the Framework Conference of the Ibero-American Network for the Promotion of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)
31 January 2024
This network, driven by Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain and Portugal, aims to consolidate a regional group that promotes the SSE.
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© Esneyder Gutiérrez Cardona 2024
Voices
Our cooperative has dignified the work of waste pickers
30 June 2022
More than 20 years ago, Martha Elena Iglesias helped found a waster picker cooperative in Colombia called Planeta Verde. Over time, the cooperative has transformed how the local community views waste pickers and a sense of solidarity has developed amongst its members.
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Cooperatives and the World of Work Series No. 12
Waste pickers’ cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations
20 August 2019
Waste pickers make significant contributions to public health, sanitation, and the environment by promoting resource circulation and reducing the amount of landfill. However, they are often not legally recognized as workers and suffer from poor working conditions and lack of social protection. This brief highlights the role of waste pickers' cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations (SSEOs) in integrating and formalizing the work of waste pickers in the recycling value chain and improving their working conditions.
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Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators
Cooperative of Associated Work Planeta Verde: Improving living conditions of waste pickers in Colombia
23 August 2018
"Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators" is a series of interviews with cooperators from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths during the course of their work with cooperatives. On this occasion, ILO interviewed Martha Elena Iglesias, a waste picker and the leader of Cooperative of Associated Work Planeta Verde in Colombia.