Waste Pickers of Urban India | Climate Week Salon & Interactive Experience

A solutions-oriented Salon & Terrace Supper exploring Systems Change, Human Dignity, Circular Economy & the Power of Radical Storytelling
About this Event

Across urban India, more than eight million Waste Pickers recover, sort and recycle much of the country's plastic waste - forming the world's largest informal circular economy and supplying more than 50% of the world's consumed recycled plastic.

Far from existing at the margins, they are the first and most important link in the recycling chain, preventing vast quantities of plastic from leaking into rivers, coastlines and the wider environment while quietly protecting cities, public health and global supply chains every single day.

Together, they form one of the world's most sophisticated informal recycling systems - an Indian model whose innovation and scale have the potential to influence circular economy thinking around the world.

Yet despite the critical role waste pickers play as the bedrock of this system, they remain its least recognised, most marginalised, and economically vulnerable participants - largely absent in the conversations around climate action, sustainable supply chains and human dignity.

This Climate Week, we're bringing that story into the room…

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This campaign is not simply about revealing an overlooked challenge. It is about recognising an Indian-led model whose lessons have the potential to influence climate, supply chains and urban sustainability around the world.

We invite you to join us for the official launch of The Waste Pickers of Urban India - a three-year international impact & engagement campaign, developed in strategic partnership with , that harnesses radical storytelling and multi-layered influence to catalyse lasting systems change, convening leaders across business, philanthropy, policy, media, municipalities, academia and civil society, both within India and internationally.

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An Interactive Climate Week Experience

Designed as one of New York Climate Week's most immersive and interactive experiences, the event moves beyond the traditional conference format.

Hosted in Manhattan's SoHo neighbourhood, the event has been designed as a multi-sensory salon experience, combining a facilitated salon conversation with three global speakers, a livestream conversation with waste pickers in India, hands-on visual storytelling, one-of-a-kind campaign materials, interactive installations and a series of unexpected moments - including a surprise lightning talk - later moving onto our outdoor terrace for supper and refreshments.

Set within the beautifully designed and sustainability-aligned Arlo SoHo in the heart of Manhattan's SoHo district, the venue has been carefully chosen for its warm, contemporary interiors and expansive outdoor terrace - creating an atmosphere where meaningful dialogue, unexpected encounters and long-term partnerships can flourish. Guests are invited to experience the campaign first-hand and help shape its future from the very beginning.

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Throughout the Event

Intimate, immersive and highly participatory, the salon moves beyond the traditional conference format. Blending conversation, storytelling and hands-on experiences, the experience has been carefully curated to leave guests feeling informed, energised and inspired - with new perspectives, meaningful connections and practical ideas to carry forward.

• A facilitated salon conversation grounded in lived experience, exploring systems change, circular economy, human dignity and the future of India's waste economy
• Direct livestream conversations with waste pickers in India, bringing lived experience directly into the room
• Powerful visual storytelling, short films and one-of-a-kind campaign materials, offering an intimate introduction to the campaign
• An interactive reception featuring hands-on installations, media-making, active sorting demonstrations and conversations exploring the role of campaigns and storytelling in driving climate action - inviting guests to engage directly with the people, materials and systems behind the work
• A beautifully curated terrace supper, refreshments and networking reception in the heart of Manhattan's SoHo district

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We hope you'll join us for an experience that's less about doom and despair, and more about possibility, human dignity and practical, scalable solutions.

Together, we'll explore what becomes possible when the people closest to a problem are the ones telling their own story, and how cross-sector collaboration, multi-layered engagement and radical storytelling can inspire lasting behavioural and systems change.

Most importantly, we'd love you to join us not simply as an audience member, but as a collaborator, helping shape the future of this campaign from its very beginning.

We can't wait to share this special event with you!

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Agenda

🕑: 03:30 AM - 04:00 PM
Welcome
🕑: 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Plastics for Change Salon on The Recycling System
🕑: 05:30 PM - 07:30 PM
Reception, Story Talks, & Interactive Recycling Systems Stations