Introduction This article focuses on waste picker cooperatives and their contribution to circular economy. Worldwide waste pickers reclaim a wide array of different materials from household waste; ranging from paper and cardboard, plastics, metals, glass, and wood to sometimes more specific materials such as cooking oil, fluorescent lamps, batteries, and electric or electronic waste (Wilson et al. 2006). The amounts recovered are significant, although quantified data is not always available for all types of materials and for every city. There are no formal selective waste collection programs in most cities in the global South, and there is growing evidence about the fact that it is the informal sector that retrieves most of the recyclable materials (Chokhandre, Singh &