In the informal settlements along Kharak Nala near Multan Road in Lahore, plastic waste collection goes beyond just work, but an attempt at survival. More than 250 households in this community depend entirely on door-to-door plastic collection for their daily income, living in fragile shelters without access to basic services, secure land rights, healthcare, or education. For decades, families here have remained trapped in cycles of poverty, debt, and exploitation within informal waste markets.

Through the PLEASE Project, Otium Consultancy is changing this reality through the Plastech App, a digital platform that connects informal waste workers to fairer markets, transparent pricing, and new economic opportunities. For many in the community, Plastech represents dignity, independence, and hope.

At just 25 years old, Mehwish is already responsible for supporting her household. Each day, she collects plastic waste from homes, returns to her community, and spends her afternoons segregating PET bottles and mixed plastics before selling them to local scrap dealers. Like many women in her settlement, she has no formal education and limited access to digital tools.

In December 2024, Mehwish was among 25 women who received training on the use of the Plastech App. With the help of a local community schoolteacher, she learned how to navigate the platform as a small but powerful step toward independence.

Before Plastech, Mehwish earned between PKR 15,000 per month, selling her plastic to a single scrap dealer who controlled pricing and access to markets. Today, through the app, she accesses better rates and more transparent pricing, increasing her monthly income to over PKR 19,500 and reducing her dependency on exploitative intermediaries.

“All men and women in our community do this work, and we have no other source of income. We are always at risk of eviction and don’t even have basic documents. But if we are given skills, education, and opportunities like this app, we can change our lives.”

Suhail, a middle-aged waste collector and father, supports an extended family through plastic collection. His life reflects the deep vulnerabilities faced by informal workers; limited healthcare access, intergenerational poverty, debt dependence, and lack of financial services. Yet Suhail is among the few in his community who learned to use an Android phone and adopt the Plastech App.

Within just one month of using the platform, Suhail increased his income by PKR 3,000, while also reducing the physical burden of transporting waste long distances to scrap dealers.

“This app gives us convenience, better rates, and dignity. It connects us to a system that feels fair.”

Beyond income, Suhail sees Plastech as a gateway to something larger: formal systems, government programmes, and long-term community upliftment. He now volunteers to raise awareness about the app in his community, believing that digital access and skills training can break cycles of debt, bonded labour, and exploitation.

“I want my children to get education and skills so they don’t have to live the life we live.”

For Shazia, a daily waste collector and mother, Plastech has delivered immediate, tangible change. Before using the app, she earned PKR 800 per day from plastic collection. Today, she earns PKR 1,000 for the same volume of waste — a 20% increase in daily income.

Trained through a Plastech session in December 2024, and supported by community educators, Shazia now advocates for women’s digital inclusion and skills development.

“Women work just as much as men, but we also carry the burden of households and childcare. If women are trained and supported, this app can change our community.”

She believes that empowering women through technology and skills will not only improve household incomes but also strengthen education, health, and wellbeing outcomes for the next generation.

Through the PLEASE Project, Otium Consultancy is demonstrating how digital innovation can drive inclusive green economies, strengthen plastic waste value chains, and empower communities that have historically been invisible in environmental systems.

The impact of Plastech goes far beyond technology or price improvements. It addresses the deeper structural vulnerabilities faced by informal waste workers by reducing dependence on exploitative middlemen, improving access to transparent market information, breaking cycles of debt and informal lending, tackling digital exclusion, and creating pathways into formal economic systems. In doing so, Plastech is not only improving incomes, but restoring dignity, agency, and opportunity for some of the most marginalised communities in the plastic waste value chain.