Latest news with #lowIncome
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Circular economy for the poor: How waste can build wealth — Ahmad Ibrahim
JUNE 6 — In recent years, the concept of a circular economy has captured the imagination of policymakers, businesses, and environmentalists worldwide. It promises a world where products are designed to last, materials are reused, and waste is minimised — a refreshing alternative to the extractive, waste-heavy systems that have dominated for decades. But while much of the conversation revolves around high-tech recycling innovations and sophisticated industrial systems, there lies a compelling, often overlooked truth: the poor have been practicing forms of circularity for generations. From informal recyclers in Nairobi to artisans in Manila, millions of low-income communities already rely on waste as a means of survival. The question is no longer whether waste can build wealth — it's how we can structure systems to help them do it safely, fairly, and sustainably. At its core, a circular economy seeks to eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in continuous use, and regenerate natural systems. It replaces the traditional linear 'take-make-dispose' economy with a system built on reuse, repair, recycling, and resource efficiency. While high-income nations pursue this through advanced recycling plants and closed-loop manufacturing, many of the world's poor have practiced informal circular economies through necessity — turning discarded materials into livelihoods long before sustainability became a global rallying cry. For low-income communities, waste is not merely refuse; it is a resource. In cities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America: Informal waste pickers earn their living by collecting, sorting, and selling recyclable materials. Artisans and micro-entrepreneurs transform waste into marketable products, from handicrafts to furniture. Urban farmers rely on compost made from organic waste to fertilise crops. At the same time, these communities disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental degradation. Poorly managed waste leads to polluted waterways, health hazards, and overcrowded landfills, all of which threaten both livelihoods and public health. A well-designed, inclusive circular economy can therefore be both an environmental imperative and a poverty alleviation strategy. How Can Waste Build Wealth? In many cities, informal waste pickers — often marginalised and unrecognised — perform the essential work of recovering recyclables. By formalising and supporting these workers through cooperatives, training, and fair compensation, entire communities can gain access to safer, more stable livelihoods. In Colombia, the Bogota Association of Recyclers transformed thousands of informal recyclers into organised, licensed professionals, improving incomes and working conditions while boosting the city's recycling rates. Turning waste into value-added products has proven a powerful tool for community entrepreneurship. Plastic bags become wallets, old tires become furniture, and discarded textiles find new life as fashionable accessories. Kenya's Ocean Sole turns discarded flip-flops collected from beaches and waterways into colourful sculptures, toys, and household items, employing local artisans and raising awareness about plastic pollution. Organic waste, which often constitutes up to 60 per cent of municipal solid waste in developing countries, presents an opportunity for local composting projects. These initiatives reduce landfill burdens, cut methane emissions, and provide compost for small-scale urban agriculture. In the Philippines, slum communities have organised micro-composting centers, converting food scraps into fertiliser for community gardens — generating both food and income. Biogas systems, fuelled by organic waste, can supply clean cooking gas and electricity in off-grid areas, reducing reliance on wood and charcoal, improving indoor air quality, and creating new economic opportunities. Despite their invaluable role, informal waste workers face numerous challenges: Lack of legal recognition, Health and safety risks, Social stigma, and Limited access to capital and markets. Governments and organisations can address these barriers by: Recognising and licensing waste workers, Providing micro-financing and grants for waste-based enterprises. Offering training in value-added waste processing. Establishing fair market linkages between informal sectors and formal industries. It's time to broaden the circular economy conversation. Far from being passive beneficiaries, low-income communities are already practicing grassroots circularity in ways that deserve recognition and support. By investing in these informal systems and integrating them into national sustainability frameworks, countries can advance their environmental goals while creating dignified, inclusive economic opportunities. The next phase of the global circular economy movement must be as much about social justice as it is about sustainability. In doing so, waste can truly become wealth, not just in monetary terms, but in fostering resilience, dignity, and hope for the world's most vulnerable populations. In Malaysia, if the circular economy is fully embraced in the palm oil business, smallholder farmers can enjoy additional income if the oil palm biomass can be value added. As of now, the conversion of oil palm biomass especially the EFBs into energy is still haphazard. Once a clear market value is established, then the new additional value will also trickle down to benefit the farmers. There is much to gain in a circular economy for the palm oil industry. Government intervention is key. * The author is affiliated with the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies at UCSI University and is an associate fellow at the Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies, Universiti Malaya. He can be reached at [email protected]. ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Judge and lawmakers question the Trump administration's plan to gut Job Corps centers
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration's plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. The Department of Labor last week announced a nationwide 'pause of operations' for dozens of Job Corps centers run by private contractors . The department cited an internal review that concluded the program was costly and had a low success rate.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judge and lawmakers question the Trump administration's plan to gut Job Corps centers
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration's plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. The Department of Labor last week announced a nationwide 'pause of operations' for dozens of Job Corps centers run by private contractors. The department cited an internal review that concluded the program was costly and had a low success rate. The review also identified safety issues at the residential campuses. The Department of Labor said it would transition students and staff out of the locations by June 30. The program was designed for teenagers and young adults who struggled to finish high school in traditional school settings and then go on to obtain training and find jobs. Participants received tuition-free housing, meals and health care. Critics have argued that closing the campuses would leave young people homeless and deprive them of opportunities and hope. They also maintained the Trump administration did not have legal authority to suspend Job Corps because it was created by Congress. Lawmakers asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about the decision when she appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday. 'Job Corps, which you know has bipartisan support in Congress, trains young, low-income people, and helps them find good-paying jobs and provides housing for a population that might otherwise be without a home,' U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott said. Scott, a Virginia Democrat, read from a letter Chavez-DeRemer wrote in support of Job Corps last year. The letter said the program increased participants' employment and wages, and decreased their reliance on public benefits. 'You've made a starkly abrupt shift from a champion to a destroyer of this important program,' said Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, adding that students in her district were distraught. In response, Chavez-DeRemer said she recognized that only an act of Congress could eliminate Job Corps. She said the Labor Department had instead used its authority to halt the program's operations but planned to comply with a federal court order that temporarily blocked the action. U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter of New York issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday that prohibited the Labor Department from terminating jobs, removing students from the 99 contractor-run centers or eliminating the Job Corps program without congressional authorization. The order was sought as part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the National Job Corps Association, a trade group which includes business, labor, volunteer and community organizations. The group alleged the Labor Department's decision would have disastrous consequences, including displacing tens of thousands of vulnerable young people and forcing mass layoffs. During Thursday's House committee hearing, Scott asked several Job Corps students in attendance to stand. 'These students were on their way to getting a good job and earning a living wage. On behalf of them, I urge you to immediately reverse the decision to effectively shut down all Job Corps centers,' Scott said. Chavez-DeRemer responded that the Trump administration wanted to eliminate ineffective training interventions. The report released in April by the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration said Job Corps operated at a $140 million deficit during the last fiscal year and had an average graduation rate of under 39%. 'Our recently released Job Corps transparency report showed that in 2023 alone, more than 14,000 serious incidents were reported at the Job Corps centers, including cases of sexual assault, physical violence, and drug use,' Chavez-DeRemer said. 'This program is failing to deliver safe and successful outcomes our young people deserve.' The National Job Corps Association maintained the statistics were misleading. It said the 14,000 serious incidents included power outages, inclement weather, athletic injuries that required treatment and adult students leaving campus without prior approva. The group also said that Job Corps' graduation rates have historically been above 60%, but were depressed by COVID-19 policies during the year the Labor Department reviewed. Seth Harris, senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, said in an interview that Job Corps is wildly popular on Capitol Hill. He recalled having to slow down Job Corps due to funding challenges when he served as acting secretary of labor during former President Barack Obama's administration. 'I got angry calls from elected members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle,' Harris said. The Job Corps program was designed to help young people who were not succeeding in school or who had left school without a place to go, placing them in a residential setting outside their community and providing them with vocational training, he said. The Labor Department shutting down Job Corps would be illegal because there's a process outlined for closing down the centers which includes publishing performance data, justifying the closure and allowing time for public comment and remediation, he said. 'This is plainly illegal,' Harris said. 'But it is entirely on brand for Donald Trump to beat up on poor kids, largely kids of color, who are trying to make their lives better.'
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Job Corps contractors sue to block Trump's program closure
June 3 (Reuters) - The administration of President Donald Trump was hit with a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block it from eliminating Job Corps, the largest U.S. job training program for low-income youth. A trade group representing contractors that operate Job Corps centers and some of its members claim the U.S. Department of Labor is violating federal law and its own regulations by abruptly shuttering the program, a plan the agency announced last week, opens new tab. The lawsuit, opens new tab was filed in Manhattan federal court. Job Corps was created by Congress in 1964 and allows 16-to-24-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds to obtain high school diplomas or an equivalent, vocational certificates and licenses and on-the-job training. The program currently serves about 25,000 people at 120 Job Corps centers run by contractors. The Labor Department in announcing the end of the program said it was not cost effective, had a low graduation rate and was not placing participants in stable jobs. The department also said there had been thousands of instances of violence, drug use and security breaches at Job Corps centers. The National Job Corps Association and other plaintiffs in Tuesday's lawsuit said the Labor Department does not have the power to dismantle a program established and funded by Congress. "Shuttering Job Corps will have disastrous, irreparable consequences, including displacing tens of thousands of vulnerable young people [and] destroying companies that have long operated Job Corps centers in reliance on the Government's support for the program," they said. The Labor Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shuttering Job Corps is a small piece of a broader effort by Trump, a Republican, and his appointees to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy, including by getting rid of some offices and agencies altogether. But the lawsuit filed on Tuesday said Congress in creating Job Corps also limited the Labor Department's ability to shut down the program. Federal law, for example, allows the department to close individual Job Corps centers only after seeking public comment and notifying local members of Congress, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to block the Labor Department from closing Job Corps centers and otherwise eliminating the program. The plaintiffs said they would seek an order requiring the program to continue pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Health
- Reuters
US Head Start preschool programs hit by Trump cuts, funding delays
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - Head Start preschool programs for low-income U.S. children are scrambling to cope with funding cuts and delays, as they feel the squeeze of President Donald Trump's cost-cutting drive. Local administrators and advocates for the program that serves nearly 800,000 children and families say the closure of five U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offices that oversee the program in Chicago, Boston, New York, Seattle and San Francisco has led to delays in processing grant applications. Adding to the strain, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency released $943 million less in congressionally-approved funding for distribution through April 15 compared with the previous year, according to congressional Democrats' most recent estimates. The delays left hundreds of families searching for costly private care for children through the age of five, according to Head Start association executives in Wisconsin, Illinois and Washington state. Administrators have sought bank loans or other lines of credit to meet their payrolls, as grant approval deadlines loomed. Congress appropriated $12.27 billion to the program in the fiscal year ending September 30. That funds 17,711 Head Start centers across the U.S., according to Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association. "The administration continues to slow-walk grants," Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, said in a telephone interview. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said in an email that the agency is following Trump's drive to cut spending and that the closure of regional offices in high-cost cities would not reduce services. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., added in a statement, "I will ensure that the next generation of families living in poverty have access to this vital program that offers what they need to thrive.' Head Start focuses on establishing an educational foundation for disadvantaged children and arming them with the social skills needed to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. It teaches early math and reading skills and provides dental, mental and nutritional health services to children and parents at the prenatal stage through birth. One childcare program in central Washington state closed for a few days in late April while awaiting funding, said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs. A Seattle Head Start program was awaiting approval on a grant request for property improvements needed to comply with state licensing requirements, Ryan said, adding, "Nobody is getting back to them." Another Washington state pre-school program was unable to provide vision screenings while it awaited money for new equipment. Around 15% of all enrolled Head Start children have disabilities. At a Friday press conference, Democratic Representative Madeleine Dean said a program in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, submitted a grant application in January. "In five months they've received no updates. Nothing," Dean said, adding that the program runs out of money on May 31 and would result in 360 children losing access to Head Start education and care and 85 employees laid off. Asked about these problems, a HHS spokesperson blamed "outdated and inefficient systems set forth by the Biden administration." An outgrowth of 1960s civil strife, Head Start aimed to provide opportunity for disadvantaged Black families. The program, which celebrated its 60th anniversary on Sunday, has served 40 million racially diverse children and parents now at or below the $32,150 federal poverty line for a family of four living in the continental U.S. The program also is accessible to children who are homeless or in foster care. U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said regional office closures hinder "investigating child health and safety incidents and providing training and technical assistance." Illinois Head Start Association Executive Director Lauri Morrison-Frichtl said the administration requirement that anything related to "diversity, equity and inclusion" be scrubbed from federal grant applications was proving particularly onerous. "DEI is core to our mission," she said in a phone interview, adding that federal regulations require hiring teachers who reflect classroom children. "If it's a majority of Latinos we need to have a Spanish-speaking teacher in that classroom." Parents with Head Start children fret over program funding going forward. Maria and Omar Castro of Chicago have one biological son and are guardians to two brothers, all of whom are aged between three and five and are enrolled in Head Start. An eight-year-old biological daughter attends public school. Maria, 33, said the two brothers experienced developmental delays, requiring speech and other Head Start assistance. "Obviously that was money we didn't have," Castro said. "I just needed support." The conservative Heritage Foundation urged the termination of Head Start in its "Project 2025" blueprint for a second Trump administration, saying the programs "have little or no long-term academic value for children." The National Head Start Association disputes that claim, noting that participants are 12% less likely to live in poverty as adults and 29% less likely to receive public assistance. Congress is weighing Head Start funding for the next fiscal year. A partial White House budget detailing major spending increases and reductions across the federal government made no mention of Head Start. Castro, whose children are enrolled in the program, said that cuts "would be a blow to the family." While the two older boys will be transitioning to kindergarten, the youngest who is continuing in Head Start "would have nowhere else to go."
