“For many years, our members worked in silence.”  

This simple yet powerful statement from Ms. Rizalyn Dadis of Mas-Green Eco Waste Pickers Association (MEPA) from Ormoc City in Eastern Visayas, captures the lived reality of many informal sector workers in the city—individuals whose labor sustained environmental systems, yet whose contributions went largely unrecognized, and at times, even stigmatized.

The Invisible Workforce Powering the Circular Economy 

Across the Philippines—and around the world— waste pickers, recyclers, and repair workers earn livelihoods by recovering, repairing, sorting, recycling, and repurposing materials. While their primary goal is to generate income, their work also delivers important environmental and economic benefits: extending the life of products, diverting waste from landfills, and keeping valuable resources in use. In practice, they have long contributed to circular economy outcomes, even before the concept gained wider recognition.  

Despite delivering these essential services, much of their work has been carried out in the shadows, with many still facing social stigma and being perceived as “undesirable.”.Their livelihoods remain precarious—dependent on fluctuating market prices and daily collection—and many lack social protection, safe working conditions, and formal recognition as legitimate economic actors. 

Yet this is beginning to change. There is growing recognition that informal workers are not peripheral—they are essential to building sustainable, inclusive, and truly circular systems. 

Ormoc’s Shift: Integrating Informal Workers into the Local Circular Economy 

In Eastern Visayas, Ormoc City is taking meaningful steps to make previously invisible forms of work visible and to integrate informal workers more fully into the local economy. Beyond recognizing their contributions, the city is creating pathways for waste and repair workers to participate in local governance, strengthen their organizations, access safer working conditions, and pursue more stable livelihoods. Through these efforts, they are increasingly being treated as essential partners in waste management, resource recovery, repair, reuse, and the transition to a circular economy.  

Three organizations reflect this shift. The Mas-Green Eco Waste Pickers Association (MEPA) brings together waste pickers involved in recovering and transforming recyclable materials. The Ormoc City Enviro Waste Workers Association (OCEWWA) organizes environmental workers engaged in waste recovery and the production of circular products. The Ormoc Repair Express Service Cooperative (ORESCO), meanwhile, provides repair services that extend the useful life of shoes, bags, mobile phones, appliances, and other everyday products.