The Coca-Cola Company together with AVINA foundation, the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), the Water and Sanitation Division of the IDB and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the first in Latin America program to support informal waste collectors.

The task is to help more than four million informal recyclers who earn their living collecting recyclable waste materials bring together into local chains and formal organizations with better and healthier work conditions.

The program launched during the VIII Inter-American Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility in Paraguay May 24-26 will make use of lessons learned from projects underway in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and other developing countries, and provide these experiences as models for educational institutions, civil society organizations and other participants.

“This program provides us with the opportunity to contribute to the development of sustainable communities in two areas of particular relevance: social and economic inclusion of people living under very adverse conditions, and environmental protection,” said Jose Octavio Reyes, President of Coca-Cola Latin America. “This program also contributes to our vision of ‘zero waste’ for our packaging, where increased use of recycled materials in our bottles constitutes a central part of this vision.”

Coca-Cola that financed the program with $2 million is not a beginner in supporting global environmental projects. The brand initiates green moves worldwide attracting attention to the situation of the Earth pollution and reminding customers of the necessity of recycling.