PRF Founder Amitesh Deo. [Photo: FILE]

As 2026 approaches, the Pacific Recycling Foundation has extended its New Year wishes to the people.

PRF says 2025 delivered several important milestones, including stronger sector engagement, policy discussions, and national and international recognition for leadership in recycling.

However, the Foundation notes that the year also exposed deep systemic issues that continue to marginalize grassroots recyclers.

PRF Founder Amitesh Deo says that while 2025 was a good year in many respects, it was also a challenging one.

He says there has been a growing trend of glorifying clean-up campaigns, while the everyday work of grassroots recyclers who keep recyclables out of landfills and dumpsites throughout the year continues to be overlooked.

PRF has raised concerns about the increasing exclusion of grassroots organizations from decision-making and progress in the recycling sector, particularly when those decisions directly affect the livelihoods of informal and community-based recyclers.

Deo says these practices are gradually undermining systems that grassroots recyclers have spent years building, often with little recognition and even less support.

He adds that despite repeated pushbacks, grassroots groups have continued to move forward, often at great personal cost, advocating for inclusion, fairness, and a people-first approach to recycling systems.

During the year, PRF made notable gains through platforms such as the VAKA Forums, strengthening engagement with municipal councils and the tourism sector, and advancing discussions around shared responsibility and ethical recycling.

As PRF enters 2026, the organization says it is moving into a phase of re-strategizing, reflecting both local realities and a broader global trend affecting grassroots organizations.

Deo has confirmed that PRF will hold high-level discussions with relevant government ministers in the New Year to raise concerns on behalf of the sectors it represents and to advocate for safeguards that protect grassroots recycling systems.

He says 2026 must be the year the country stops sidelining those who have been doing the work all along.

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