The Advocacy Coordinator and North America is responsible for coordinating the advocacy plan leading up to the IAWP’s Inaugural Elective Congress under the guidance of the Acting General Secretary (AGS). The role involves overseeing IAWP’s global advocacy strategy on issues such as just transition, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the plastics treaty, and climate change. This includes coordinating workers’ education for waste pickers in collaboration with the Organizational Development Officer and providing technical support to waste picker organizations. Additionally, the coordinator supports the North American region, focusing on plastics treaty issues, just transition, and IAWP affiliation, while assisting the AGS in building IAWP into a globally recognized solidarity network representing vulnerable waste pickers, particularly women.
Taylor Cass Talbott is the Advocacy Coordinator and North America for IAWP. She co-founded and directs a local waste picker organization and has experience working with the KKPKP waste picker union in India and in Bhutan, where she developed upcycled craft cooperatives and advised on municipal solid waste management. Taylor has led initiatives such as the viral Red Dot Campaign for KKPKP and Bhutan’s first zero waste program. Her background in waste picking, second-hand vending, and upcycling informs her leadership in advocacy, focusing on the plastics treaty, EPR, and the development of position papers on reuse and repair.
