Did you know the buttons on your H&M outfit can benefit Bengaluru’s waste-pickers?

H&M Foundation’s first-ever, large-scale local initiative Saamuhika Shakti is looking at creating an ecosystem that provides work to waste-pickers and recycles plastic waste

When you think of sustainability, the concepts of eco-friendly fabrics, slow fashion and off-setting your carbon footprint might come to mind. While a lot of progress has been made in these areas—albeit gradual—a graver problem, that is a natural extension of the human condition, still looms large: that of waste management. What does this have to do with the climate crisis? Decomposing waste releases high levels of methane and carbon dioxide into the air, and when left in landfills to rot, contributes to a catastrophic greenhouse effect.

In India, 62 million tonnes of waste is generated per year, out of which only 15 per cent is processed and treated. To address this issue, the privately- funded H&M Foundation launched Saamuhika Shakti in Bengaluru in 2020, a first-of-its-kind initiative to not only re-use the plastic waste generated but also create systemic change by helping waste-pickers below the poverty line.

The four-year-long programme has received $11million in funding from the H&M Foundation, which has partnered with eight local organisations to support the waste-picker community. It has so far impacted 20,000 waste-pickers. Further to that, the post-consumer PET waste collected by waste-pickers in Bengaluru is now sent to H&M partner and social enterprise Hasiru Dala Innovations who make buttons on H&M garments, partly made from the plastic collected.

We spoke to Maria Bystedt, strategy lead of H&M Foundation, to find out more.

First things first, please tell us about the H&M Foundation? Is it for all H&M brands—such as & Other Stories, Monki, and so forth?

The H&M Foundation is an independent, non-profit, global foundation with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. It is privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of the H&M Group. The H&M Foundation, however, is a separate legal entity from the H&M Group, with its own team, strategy, budget and board.

We work to fast-track the achievements of the UN Sustainable Development goals by 2030, to safeguard humanity and our planet. H&M Foundation is looking for methods that are innovative, replicable, scalable and use the collective power of different actors to disrupt the development sector in an attempt to create global, systemic change. We are, therefore, piloting the Collective Impact Approach at scale. The approach enables us to move away from being a traditional donor–funding thematic projects and operating in silos–to becoming a facilitator, catalysing holistic solutions, systems change and creating a platform for true collaborations between local expert organisations.

How did you narrow down on Saamuhika Shakti, a collective impact initiative that aims to improve the quality of lives of waste-pickers, and why particularly Bengaluru?

The H&M Foundation’s mission is to re-invent and future-proof the entire fashion industry. Beyond supporting disruptive innovations that can shift the industry’s planetary footprint, we work towards building inclusive societies in the communities where vast amounts of the world’s clothing is made. With the increasing demand for circular materials, the H&M Foundation identified a gap in the system where efforts to increase recycling tend to have an environmental focus, and solutions may thus, inadvertently, cause further marginalisation for informal waste-pickers. We wanted to ensure a social perspective to the circular economy within urban India where waste-pickers are an integral part of the waste management value chain. Bengaluru, which generates around 4,500 tonnes of waste every day, has around 20,000 waste-pickers and an already existing ecosystem of actors working to improve the lives of waste-pickers. This, in combination with a thriving scene of innovative tech- and solutions-minded start-ups and organisations trying to solve the challenges that exist within the waste management sector, made for a conducive environment to launch this initiative.

Was it difficult to set up an initiative like this in India? What were the challenges involved?

Saamuhika Shakti aims to address the systemic interrelated challenges in the ecosystem surrounding informal waste-pickers. The programme takes a holistic approach and includes eight diverse partner organisations who address different intervention areas according to their skills and expertise. This, in itself, is a challenge, to enable tight collaborations among such a large group of partners. It is also challenging to coordinate their efforts with mutually reinforcing activities towards a common agenda, and simultaneously finding the right balance between enabling waste-picker households to benefit from multiple interventions, whilst not overwhelming them with too much too quickly. This is where the Collective Impact method has been very useful. It sets out the roadmap for this quite complicated implementation, ensuring constant communication between the partners, shared measurement, and coordinating activities on the ground.

Furthermore, we were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project kicked off in early 2020, and shortly thereafter the first wave had hit. The informal community was affected severely, as daily wages were affected, and the focus needed to shift to emergency relief such as food/ration distribution. The nationwide lockdowns made it difficult to implement planned on-ground activities, and all partners had to pivot their strategies to adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances. During the second wave [in April-May 2021], we saw high incidences of COVID infections, and this required coordinated efforts to cater to the medical needs of the community. Adding to this, vaccine hesitancy was high among the waste-picker community. Our partners collaborated on creating information campaigns and vaccination drives to reach the most vulnerable populations. Eventually the project was extended by one year to allow for the changes and time lost during the pandemic.

A lot of brands re-use discarded plastic. Do you think that’s a better solution than no solution to the plastic problem?

We have chosen to focus on inclusive circularity, i.e. the social aspects of circular economies. Moving from virgin materials with a high environmental impact to recycled, regenerated and more sustainably sourced ones is an important step to try and combat the climate crisis. Waste is a valuable resource and we need to ensure that we harness the value that lays in waste as a raw material, as well as doing all we can so that the waste-pickers that carry the waste management system on their shoulders are included, and that they benefit from this development. Waste-pickers have huge knowledge and expertise about secondary raw materials, and ensure that these are reintroduced into the economy, effectively creating immense benefits both environmentally and economically for society.

With Saamuhika Shakti, we wanted to work together with actors that safeguard the social perspective and look at the root causes of the failing systems that trap waste-pickers in poverty. As we believe innovation and the role of the private sector is also crucial in creating systems change, we have invited innovators and industry actors in creating green jobs and income opportunities for the waste-picker community. We want to tap into the know-how of the waste-pickers, and ensure that they are brought into the formal economy, increasing transparency and benefits for society. Our belief is that the jobs that have been created by supporting social entrepreneurs and connecting the waste-pickers with H&M Group to supply waste as raw material, will ensure the welfare of the community for a long time to come.

What other local initiatives do you have planned around the globe and how has the progress been so far?

The H&M Foundation is running a long-term project to support women garment workers in Bangladesh. Initially, the focus has been on minimising the negative impacts on the women and their families, especially those hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. H&M Foundation has donated a total of 18 million SEK (US$1.5 million) to organisations like WaterAid, CARE and Save the Children to provide young women, their families and community members in and around Dhaka with emergency relief. So far, 100,000 women have received emergency relief interventions and one million people have been reached with messages on COVID-19 and hygiene practices.

As a second step, H&M Foundation is preparing the women for a future where the textile industry is defined by automation and digitalisation, bringing with it a risk of unemployment for millions of Bangladeshis. Women are particularly at risk, as they represent the majority of the total workforce within the garment industry and are often employed to execute tasks highly susceptible to automation. Our long-term goal is to prepare and equip female garment workers to work successfully alongside AI and automation, and thus safeguard their livelihoods. We want to ensure that the new technology can significantly improve female participation in economic life and enhance the social autonomy of women.

How do you measure your success at the H&M Foundation, both overall and with the Bengaluru initiative?

Both our initiatives in India and Bangladesh will be externally evaluated. This will help us understand whether the model is suitable, and whether the holistic approach of ensuring the community is reached by multiple rather than singular interventions generates more sustainable outcomes. All in all, the evaluation will provide important insights on the effectiveness of the project and the Collective Impact method. We will share any findings transparently to peers, academia, policy makers and the general public. For us, at H&M Foundation, transparency is important–to share our learnings, and mistakes. There will always be challenges and failures, but we don’t fear imperfection; that’s how we learn, and that shapes our way forward. We prototype together with our partners, try, fail, learn, and try again until we find that innovation or approach with the potential to change the game.

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