This study draws on the case of Mombasa county, Kenya, to examine the participatory spaces through which grassroots waste pickers engage local government and the implications for a just transition in plastic governance. Using environmental democracy and grassroots innovation frameworks, the analysis extends Gaventa’s typology of invited and created spaces by introducing co-created spaces emerging from collaboration among waste pickers, civil society, and government. Findings show that invited spaces are often shallow in engagement, while created spaces foster innovation and resistance but yield uneven policy influence. Co-created spaces—such as participatory video and Democracy Labs—enable mutual accountability, recognition of waste pickers’ ecological roles, and the reconfiguration of occupational identities. Despite persistent constraints, these spaces demonstrate how embedding grassroots agency within institutions is central to advancing
a just transition in plastic governance.
