Why a gender lens matters for Plastic Reboot – South Africa - Plastic Reboot
Why a gender lens matters for Plastic Reboot – South Africa
This is the first in a series of articles from Plastic Reboot – South Africa, sharing insights and learnings that support and embed a circular economy approach.
by Nicole Crozier, Gender Consultant for Plastic Reboot – South Africa
From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to Durban’s Umgeni River, from the shores of Indonesia to the stormwater canals of Motherwell in the Eastern Cape, plastic pollution is a global challenge. But the pathways to solutions are shaped by local social, economic and environmental contexts. Plastic Reboot recognises that transitioning from a linear to a circular plastic-packaging system in the food and beverage industry is more than a technical or economic shift – it is also a social transition. In South Africa, where inequality remains entrenched, applying a gender lens is essential to ensuring inclusivity.
Plastic packaging is produced, used, collected and recycled by people, and these activities are not gender-blind. Women and men participate differently in the plastic-packaging value chain, from manufacturing and retail to household consumption and informal waste collection. Women in Africa – and also in South Africa – are concentrated in low-skilled occupations in the value chain, with men taking up most management and decision-making roles. These power asymmetries influence women’s access to resources and opportunities. Women and men also experience different constraints and opportunities shaped by gender roles, access to resources, safety concerns and childcare responsibilities.
Women often report higher levels of environmental concern and engagement in household sustainability practices, which can be linked to gendered social roles and responsibilities (e.g. socialisation and gender norms, division of labour in households and exposure to environmental risks).Ignoring these differences risks designing circular solutions that work only for some, not all, or that miss key levers for change because interventions are improperly targeted.
Applying a gender lens helps ensure that the work of Plastic Reboot – South Africa is designed and operates with an understanding of who is affected by change, and how. In South Africa, for example, women are highly represented in parts of the informal recycling sector. Informal waste reclaiming is highly dangerous work; working on the streets or in landfills, there are ever-present dangers from the waste itself, and from bulldozers and vehicles. Female waste reclaimers are especially vulnerable to crime and physical and sexual violence, thus women often choose to work in groups on landfills. This affects the quality of waste they collect and their income. The work also carries a social stigma as it is perceived as “dirty”, yet South Africa’s informal waste collectors make an enormous economic, social and environmental contribution. With limited government investment, waste reclaimers collected 51% of all paper and packaging post-consumer waste in South Africa in 2017, saving municipalities millions of rands in landfill airspace.
Safety considerations, access to transport, recycling infrastructure and time poverty linked to unpaid care and household responsibilities all influence where and how women participate in recycling activities. Without acknowledging these realities, interventions aimed at improving recycling systems or introducing new business models may unintentionally exclude those who are already marginalised.
Gender parity is therefore central to inclusion. Gender mainstreaming does not focus only on women, nor does it assume that all women or men share the same experiences. Instead, it examines power relations, representation and access across diverse groups of people. In South Africa, this must also be understood alongside race, education, geographic location and historical and structural inequalities, which strongly shape economic opportunity. An intersectional gender lens provides a structured way of considering these factors when designing policies and forging partnerships.
Key Takeaways
Circular transitions should be designed with people at the centre.
Gender shapes how women and men participate in plastic value chains, access opportunities and experience risks.
Inclusion requires intentional representation, meaningful consultation and accessible engagement processes.
Gender-disaggregated data strengthens decision-making and helps prevent exclusion.
Embedding gender and inclusion from the outset improves the adoption, scalability and long-term impact of a project.
Integrating a gender lens across the project cycle
Integrating a gender lens strengthens project performance and reduces risk. When inclusion is embedded into core management practices, projects are better positioned to deliver equitable, scalable and lasting circular economy outcomes. Plastic Reboot – South Africa is implementing this approach to ensure effective gender integration.
1. Project design
Map the participation of women and men across the plastic-packaging value chain, including formal and informal actors.
Identify gender-differentiated barriers related to safety, access to finance, time availability, skills and decision-making power.
Ensure that project objectives and activities respond to these realities.
2. Consultation and stakeholder engagement
Design engagement processes that are communicated to reach men and women and are accessible in terms of location, timing and format.
Co-create activities and responses with affected communities.
Use facilitation approaches that enable equitable participation and reduce power imbalances.
Avoid treating representation as a numerical exercise; include ethical, qualitative and substantive considerations.
3. Implementation and partnerships
Update the stakeholder map based on the outcomes of the consultation phase to incorporate gaps and key priorities identified by women and men in the value chain.
Review procurement, partnership selection and beneficiary criteria for potential bias.
Encourage participation from women-owned and previously disadvantaged enterprises where relevant.
Build inclusion requirements into partnership agreements.
4. Gender-transformative monitoring, evaluation and learning
Include gender-disaggregated indicators and outcomes.
Track who benefits from interventions and adjust activities if exclusion emerges.
Use learning loops to refine approaches during implementation.
Use gender data and evidence to ensure that the project processes do not exacerbate gender inequalities or exclude women’s responses when assessing the project.
5. Team capacity and governance
Support an ongoing capacity-building strategy that integrates gender and social inclusion for project teams.
Promote balanced representation in advisory and governance structures to strengthen accountability.
Ultimately, applying a gender lens strengthens the effectiveness of circular economy initiatives. Solutions that reflect the lived realities of diverse workers, consumers and entrepreneurs are more likely to be adopted and sustained. For Plastic Reboot, gender is a core component of building a fair and resilient transition away from plastic pollution, in line with the United Nations Industrial Organization’s commitment to inclusive and sustainable industrial development.
This document was prepared by Nicole Crozier and WWF under the Plastic Reboot programme. It is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Its contents are the sole responsibility of Nicole Crozier and WWF, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF Secretariat or any other organisation.