In Cambodia, informal waste workers, who often belong to economically and socially marginalised communities, play a central role in advancing the transition toward a circular economy. Despite bearing this critical responsibility, they continue to face structural inequalities, including economic insecurity, hazardous working conditions, gender-specific vulnerabilities, and persistent social discrimination.
To bring to the surface real stories of resilience, innovation, and transformation within the informal waste sector, CCET, in partnership with UNEP-IETC, produced a documentary series featuring the waste workers of the informal sector. These videos highlight the disintegration between formal and informal systems, while advocating for gender-inclusive policies and the formal recognition and integration of informal workers as essential providers of environmental services.
1. From Waste Collector to Entrepreneur: How One Cambodian Entrepreneur has transformed himself and other informal waste collectors Through Recycling
Lim Vanny's journey is that of a new generation of waste entrepreneurs in Cambodia. His story showcases how informal sector expertise can evolve into formal enterprises and how technology transfer and targeted support can foster a circular economy while building resilient communities. His experience underscores the importance of inclusive approaches that recognise and empower informal workers as key agents of sustainable change.
2. A Mother's Double Burden: Balancing Economic Survival and Family Life at Cambodia's Landfills
Focusing on gender inequality in the waste sector, this video sheds light on the “double burden” faced by women as they balance demanding, high-risk work with family care responsibilities. It brings their daily challenges into focus, capturing emerging moments of social recognition, and encouraging reflection on the policies needed to enhance their quality of life.
3. A Father's Burden: Family Struggle in Cambodia's Informal Waste Economy
Economic insecurity is a defining feature of the informal sector, particularly for small-scale waste pickers. This story explores how unstable incomes and financial pressures shape their daily realities and family responsibilities, underscoring the persistent gaps in economic stability and the need for more inclusive support systems.
4. The Night Collector's Courage: Women’s Fight for Survival on Phnom Penh's Streets
Safety remains a critical concern for women working in precarious urban environments. This story examines how economic pressure and safety risks intersect, shaping their daily realities, emphasising the urgent need for stronger social protection, safer working conditions and inclusive policies that recognise and safeguard the rights of nighttime collectors.
5. The Community Builder: How One Informal Waste Collector Became a Voice for Hundreds
Leadership in the informal waste sector can emerge from lived experience even without formal recognition. This episode exposes how grassroots leadership is essential for inclusive urban governance. To do so, it follows an informal waste collection worker who became a vital bridge between their community and formal institutions, as well as between lived experience and policy.
6. From Informal Waste Collector to Compost Worker: How Formal Employment Transformed Lives of the informal waste collectors in Battambang
Inclusive waste management models can provide stable and dignified alternatives to precarious labor. By documenting the transition of informal waste collection workers into formal compost workers, this episode demonstrates how systemic approaches can simultaneously improve the social welfare of the informal workers and environmental outcomes.