Local MLA Mr. Veer Singh Dhinghan spoke to the community in New Seemapuri. Photo credit: AIKMM.

Text and photos provided by AIKMM

In recognition of International Labour Day, or May Day, AIKMM and its associate organization NALR hosted a program to promote solidarity amongst the waste collectors in northeast Delhi. While AIKMM has been working specifically on waste collectors’ issues since 2007, NALR works for informal labour rights, strengthening the voice and raising the concerns of workers in the labour force. NALR works to create pro-worker policies, safeguard workers’ interests in other policies, and improve the implementation of existing policies and schemes that benefit labour. Coming together for the annual May Day celebration, the joint program included waste collectors from communities in and around New Seemapuri who marked the occasion of Labour Day and gave voice to their demands for recognition and rights to continue their work. May Day offered a platform for building solidarity, which is absolutely crucial in the current period of increasing privatization and state control, which threatens the waste collectors’ livelihoods and ability to provide for their families.

Waste Work in Seemapuri

New Seemapuri, where the Labour Day event was held, is a major center for waste workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. Around 20,000 people earn a living through various kinds of waste work in this community— from collecting to sorting, and selling up the recycling chain. As a result of their work, many neighborhoods are provided trash collection services and the city as a whole benefits from the promotion of recycling activities. The community has been engaged in this work for at least 2 generations, with most residents tracing their roots to West Bengal.

AIKMM has been concentrating its organizing work in this area for the last several years and has built up a strong base of support. Through AIKMM, workers have developed a platform for expressing the challenges of their work and demanding solutions from the government. AIKMM promotes an approach that builds solidarity amongst workers so that they can address the problems they face as workers and challenge policies that are not in their favor. At present, the main organizing issue is accessing waste in light of the expansion of municipal waste collection programs in east Delhi.

AIKMM has also recently partnered on a unique initiative to make flowers from waste, such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Kabad se Jugad is an all-women cooperative, which has been formed by a small group of women from the waste collector community. Currently, they are in a start-up phase, and the women are developing products, including beautiful and unusual flowers made from 100 percent freshly picked waste. Therefore, our motto is “cut to perfection”! By creating innovative objects from the waste, the women add more value to the goods than they would receive in the recycling market. In the next few months, the co-op will begin to sell its products. Look out for us in a funky painted Ambassador, which will be launched in Connaught Place in the upcoming months!

Why Celebrate Labour Day?

Labour Day (May Day, International Workers’ Day) is bound up with the struggle for the shorter workday–a demand of major political significance for the working class. This struggle was manifest almost from the beginning of the factory system in the United States, and International Workers’ Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. There, the police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing dozens of demonstrators and several of their own officers. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universally, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s second congress in 1891.

Today, May Day becomes more relevant than ever because as following the opening of the Indian economy in early 1990s, Indian cities have been going through monumental changes, which have serious implications for the lives and livelihoods of working people. Although India has been experiencing GDP growth of 6-7 percent per year, poverty and inequality have risen significantly. The Government of India reports that 80 percent of the population lives on less than twenty rupees a day, even as the wealthy are becoming wealthier. Much of the growth under the current neoliberal regime has been jobless growth, and whatever jobs are being created are in the informal sector of the economy. Currently about 94 percent of the workforce is in the informal sector, working in hazardous conditions with absence of minimum wages, social security or health benefits.

Apart from the main labor force, a huge section of unorganized labor remains engaged in waste picking due to unemployment. Waste collectors are among the most marginalized amongst informal sector workers, and they live in the daily grind of poverty, ill-health, and harsh working conditions. Despite the fact that waste collectors recycle 20 percent of the city’s waste, saving the municipalities millions of rupees every year, they are unrecognized in legislation, criminalised by the administration and ignored by society. They sacrifice their own health and recycle resources that wealthier people recklessly consume, and yet they are made insecure because they have been refused the right to their livelihoods. This is despite the fact that, in the era of jobless growth and climate change, they have crafted viable green livelihoods for themselves; thereby contributing significantly to economy, society and the environment.

Program Speakers

Mr. Veer Singh Dhinghan, MLA (Delhi Legislative Assembly), Member of the Welfare of SC/ST/OBCs Committee, spoke about his long-term commitment to the sanitation and waste workers in Delhi, which he has been working on since 1973. In his position as MLA and as General Secretary of the Municipal Sanitation Workers’ Union, Mr. Dhinghan has been a long-time staunch advocate for sanitation workers in Delhi.

Mr. Shashi Bhushan Pandit, Secretary (AIKMM) led the event and addressed the group on the significance of the May Day program.

Mr. Rajesh Upadhyay, Convener (NALR) opened the celebration by leading the group in singing songs about the workers’ struggle and highlighting the challenges of waste workers in Delhi since the arrival of private companies. He spoke on the history of May Day and how the struggle for workers’ rights continues since that time until today.

Ms. Dana Kornberg, PhD Student (University of Michigan, USA) spoke on the issue of international solidarity and the promotion of unity amongst workers to fight for their rights.

Mr. Ambrish Rai, National Convener (Right To Education Forum) highlighted the need for organization and unity in the workers struggle, especially in light of privatization, and alerted workers to their right to free education at any public school since through the government’s Right to Education (RTE) Bill.

Ms. Mamta Dash (Carbon Market Watch) spoke on the issue of sanitation work and the need for workers’ unity in a time of great inequality. Bringing expertise from her leadership on the Right to Sanitation Campaign in India on behalf of Water Aid, Ms. Dash spoke about the challenges of sanitation work and the urgent need to address the lack of sanitary conditions in workers’ areas.

Mr. Anjor Bhaskar, Researcher (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) riled up the crowd by leading the group in chants and spoke on the importance of workers’ solidarity and struggle.

Mr. Mitraranjan led the group in a revolutionary song and addressed the audience on waste workers’ issues.

Mr. Sheikh Akbar Ali, President (AIKMM Delhi) and waste picker in Seemapuri delivered the closing remarks.

Inside the CooperLimpa warehouse. Photo credit: WIEGO.

In the beginning of April of this year, officials from the South African Department of the Environment (chemical and waste management branches) were in Brazil and Colombia to learn about inclusive solid waste management. The delegates went straight to the heart of the the Brazilian movement, to its headquarters in São Paulo.

They continued on to Belo Horizonte, where they visited a cooperative and met with members of the Municipal Waste and Citizenship Forum. Their last stop in Brazil was Diadema, in the industrial belt of São Paulo, where they visited a cooperative, learned from waste pickers and city leaders about the city’s participatory waste management model, and also met with the mayor.

Their final stop in Latin America was Colombia, where they met with the Association of Recyclers of Colombia, whose court victory and long struggle has recently resulted in the recyclers being responsible city’s recycling collection and processing and receiving payment as service providers. The learning exchange was facilitated by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). More coming soon about the Diadema visit!

A press conference in March 2013 to address the issue of proper disposal of sanitary napkins. Photo credit: SWaCH.

Text and photo contributions from Manisha Desai, of SWaCH

SWaCH waste pickers’ cooperative began bringing attention to a little known but very important issue more than two years ago: the proper disposal of sanitary napkins. Soiled sanitary napkins expose waste pickers, who work with their bare hands, to respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments, skin and eye infections and allergies. Three years ago, SWaCH members developed a low-cost, disposable, biodegradable paper bag with a yellow sticker that makes its contents recognizable to waste pickers. The cooperative already sells about 20,000 to 25,000 of these bags every month and has been trying to engage the companies that manufacture sanitary napkins to adopt them.

These same companies have led aggressive campaigns to push their product in schools and colleges but have ignored waste pickers’ requests that they provide a identifiable disposable bag along with the pad.  And they are actually required by the national waste law to practice producer’s responsibility for waste generated by their products. According to the provisions of Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) included in the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011, the producers are required to finance and organize a system for environmentally sound management of waste (especially non-biodegradable waste) generated from their products and to take responsibility for the end of life of their products. 

Quoted in the Times of India, SWaCH waste picker Rekha Sakpal, said, “These companies spend so much money on research to make the napkins comfortable for women to use. Why can’t they spend some money to ensure that the same are wrapped and disposed of properly?” Stree Mukti Sanghatana, a women’s organization that works with waste pickers, is also suggesting eliminating plastic from sanitary pads to make them completely compostable and recyclable. But no commitment has been made.

After sending numerous requests (even the mayor of Pune and other municipal leaders reached out) to manufacturers of sanitary napkins and diapers — including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Hindustan Unilever Limited and Kimberley Clark Lever — with no response, SWaCH came up with a last resort. The cooperative collected used sanitary napkins and sent them back in boxes to the companies’ corporate offices as a gift on International Women’s Day to make them experience firsthand what waste pickers undergo while handling such waste.

It was a step that finally worked. On April 4th, a representative with FIHA (Feminine and Infant Health Association) met with SWaCH, a commissioner with the Pune solid waste management department, and two organizations, Parisar and Janwani. In the meeting, FIHA representatives had to respond when they were questioned by SWaCH about which stream of waste (wet or dry) sanitary towels and diapers belong to. These large manufacturers had not even thought about this!

Lakshmi Narayan, of KKPKP waste pickers’ union, said, “Due to the heavy use of polymers, the products themselves have issues — as they are not biodegradable and non-recyclable, they pose severe environmental threats.”

Waste management commissioner Shri Suresh Jagtap said to FIHA representatives, “We can create a model in Pune city which can then be an example for the rest of the country. We have to jointly think of alternatives so that waste pickers do not have to handle such waste. You will understand the plight of waste pickers when you actually go and speak with them.”

“As manufacturing companies, it is your responsibility to ensure that the entire life cycle of your product is sustainable. The burden of handling and processing post-consumer waste is borne by waste pickers and the municipality!” said Ranjit Gadgil of Parisar.

SWaCH members have also met with the state department of health, which has called for a consultation with waste picker organizations, experts and manufacturers on April 26th in Mumbai to discuss the issue at hand. FIHA members were told to develop a proposal with concrete steps and present it at this consultation. However, this meeting has been indefinitely postponed.

Chintan-Safai Sena Team on Earth Day – April 22, 2013. Photo credit: Chintan.

Text and photo contributions from Imran Khan, assistant manager with Chintan

Chintan celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd in partnership with the Indian Railways at the New Delhi Railway Station. The Chintan team along with waste pickers with Safai Sena encouraged commuters to sign pledges, to not litter the station and to crush plastic bottles before discarding them. Chintan has a contract with the Indian Railways and the waste pickers work at four different railways in New Delhi. They have recently been provided with electricity, allowing them to set up a plastic shredder where they process the plastic bottles.

Last year, Chintan held a similar event at the station. “We were thrilled by the response we got from the passengers,” said Imran Khan, assistant manager with Chintan. This year, the group set up pledges at two platforms where the waste recyclers educated passengers on the work they do and how they keep the station clean. The passengers pledged to crush bottles before discarding them and to dispose waste only in the dustbins. The event was attended by the Station Master as well as the Railway Police force. They too took pledges and congratulated the waste recyclers on their work. “We spread awareness on keeping the environment clean as well as the importance of the work done by the waste pickers,” said Imran.

“Ragpickers swear passengers to green oath” (Times of India)

“Efforts to make stations garbage free” (Hindustan Times)

Members of Kabad se Jugad making art from recyclable materials. Photo credit: Rolando Politi.

Text and photo contributions from Rolando Politi

Situated on the northeastern outskirts of Delhi, Seemapuri is one of the longest standing communities of waste pickers. It is a tight knit community of mainly Muslims and some Dalits, a historically discriminated caste, from the Indian state of West Bengal. In that neighborhood, most of the community earns a living by collecting, sorting, and recycling from the surrounding neighborhoods. In March of this year, Kabad Se Jugad, a women’s cooperative that makes arts and crafts out of recyclable materials launched in the Seemapuri neighborhood.

In partnership with New York-based artist, Rolando Politi, also known as “Recycle and Pray”, these waste pickers are transforming these materials into objects and art, “relying on inspiration and creativity (in Hindi: jugad) to guide our production process” and “bringing our talent of improvising from waste to the wider world.”

One year ago, Rolando visited Delhi for the first time and met Shashi Pandit of All India Kabadi Mazdoor Mahasang (AIKMM) waste pickers’ union of Delhi as well as Federico Demaria, a doctoral student who was doing research on participatory waste management there at the time.  An artist of “waste transformations,” for many years, Rolando had been thinking for years about collaborating with waste pickers to transform consumer packaging waste into art. Shashi Pandit suggested the start up of an all women’s cooperative, with Seemapuri as its location. After a year of fundraising, the cooperative had enough funds to start in March.

The waste picker artisans in the cooperative make flowers from aluminum cans, plastic bottles, chai cups, newspapers and lightbulbs; garlands and bangles from bottle caps, among many other objects.  The group is still small, with six women and two men, but hopes to grow to absorb at least 17 members further down the line. Kabad Se Jugad has a shop and an office in the heart of the community. In this short time, Kabad Se Jugad has already become known and supported by the waste picking community of Seemapuri, said Rolando. Right now, the cooperative is still only testing and experimenting with creating objects for eventual sale. The cooperative plans to go to market by September.

“This is a truly original waste picker-run and designed for one of a kind originals. It is not an upcycle factory,” Rolando said. He added that the cooperative is “the very first of its kind for urban India, empowering women who had never before thought about or had the opportunity and the initiative to manifest their craftiness and creativity by adding value to the waste materials instead of only separating and creating weight for the next step in the recycling chain.”

The Kabad Se Jugad website has a lot of information and photos so check it out!

See the biography of Bahiran Bibi, one of Kabad Se Jugad’s members, and also a member of AIKMM

I started working as a waste picker when I was 7 years old. I would go out each morning, with my mother, brothers, cousins and neighbors, to collect recyclables from the streets to make our living.  Thanks to my family, I worked in the morning and went to school at night. Our struggle was hard. But we worked with humilty, on a path towards a more just and caring society. Without hoping for anything more than the well-being and a dignified life for the millions of poor people around the world. Under the direction of my workers’ union, comprised of more than 15 million people around the world. I have remained committed to this ethical path and I rejoice in the fact that the conditions have slowly improved, allowing us to ensure that we have bread on the table and our children are in school.

We are grateful to the Constitutional Court of Colombia and its judges, who now understand that the law can change the world. To the mayor of Bogotá and his advisors – thank you for nobly agreeing for the first time ever, to pay the recyclers, recognized as legitimate workers in the city’s sanitation program. Lastly, to the families of recyclers around the world – you have my affection and my admiration. From you I see the kindness and the honesty that we need more than anything else so that this humble trade is accepted and defended as alternative form of work and life. (note: there is a mistake in the translation around 1:40 in which she says “15 million waste pickers around the world” but the translation incorrectly says “1.5 million”)

Waste pickers protest at a meeting about São Bernardo, São Paulo’s installation of an incinerator. Credit: MNCR.

Translated from MNCR’s press release (in Portuguese)

São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brasil – April 2013

In Brazil, the fight against incineration continues. In São Bernardo do Campo, waste pickers attended public debate about waste to energy between the municipal government and the Anti-Incineration Coalition held at a Methodist church in the city. São Bernardo plans to install an incinerator that will burn waste in surrounding cities for a period of at least 30 years.

In a powerful symbol of protest to show the health impacts of incineration, a group of 30 waste pickers wore surgical masks during the debate. 150 waste pickers and residents of the former Alvarenga dump (the planned site of the incinerator) were barred from entering the church, with the explanation that there was no more room. In an act of protest, Maria Mônica da Silva, a waste picker and leader based in the neighboring city of Diadema, demanded the final words. She shamed the organizers for their lack of respect for the waste pickers who were left out of the debate.

“…The 150 people who were left out and were not provided with information will be the first people to feel the impact of the incinerator, as they are residents of Jardim Alvarenga, the place where the incinerator will be built,” she said. “We demand respect.”

Congratulations, Nohra Padilla, informal recycler and leader with the Association of Recyclers of Bogotá and the National Association of Recyclers in Colombia, for winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for South and Central America. This prize has been called the environmental “Nobel” or “Oscar”. It comes with a $150,000 cash award.

The Goldman Prize publication states, “Thanks to Padilla’s leadership, the cooperatives have grown into the Association of Recyclers of Bogotá (ARB), an organization that represents the city’s 3,000 informal recyclers, and the National Association of Recyclers in Colombia (ANR), with 12,000 members strong. Together, Padilla and the recyclers are revolutionizing the waste management infrastructure in Colombia. A landmark victory came in late 2011, when Padilla won a court ruling that now prohibits waste management contracts that don’t provide job opportunities for informal recyclers. It was a much-needed affirmation of their fundamental right to work and the government’s acknowledgment of the necessity and benefits of recycling. Recyclers are now formally recognized stakeholders in Bogotá’s waste management planning.” Read the full article

And here is a video about Nohra Padilla produced by the Goldman Prize

And Nohra Padilla’s acceptance speech (note: there is a mistake in the translation around 1:40 in which she says “15 million waste pickers around the world” but the translation incorrectly says “1.5 million”)

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) authorities had been shockingly apathetic to the inhuman treatment to over 400 waste workers employed by its contractor BVG Kshitij. Almost a week ago, the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP) started a sit-in to protest for this situation. Read more about how the company BVG Kshitij violated Minimum Wages and Contract Labor.

This is a brief update on the 6 day long ‘sit-in’ organised by KKPKP (waste picker trade union) outside the PCMC that concluded yesterday when the Municipal Commissioner conceded to our demands in the face of the proof we submitted via documents collected using the Right to Information Act. Check all the information collected in this pdf.

The sit-in started on April 20th and continued until 6 pm yesterday – on the pavement at a busy traffic signal just outside the PCMC building with around 150 wastepickers participating every day after work at 2 pm and around 30 wastepickers taking turns with us to spend the night as well. Although it was raining, it was of course, not just GREAT fun to spend the nights on the road, (singing songs, eating food that they all took turns to bring and discussing strategies), but also of course a very useful solidarity building process

And of course the PCMC agreed to our demands at the end of it although I am  sceptical about whether they will actually pay up and how soon. But if they do, it means wastepickers will be paid almost INR 3,000,00,00 towards work they have done in the last year, during which their wages were ‘adjusted’ against the dry waste they retrieved and sold. If they dont pay up, we will have to both re start the agitation and file for compensation at the Labour Department- although that process is lengthy it could result in a bigger penalty imposed on BVG and the PCMC. We will have to wait a few days to see how it goes.

Messrs BVG Kshitij is contracted by the PCMC for carrying out waste collection in wards B and C since January 2011. Over the past 4 months, KKPKP has repeatedly brought to the notice of the PCMC authorities that workers were being paid wages of between Rs 50 and 100 per day instead of Rs 254 stipulated under the Minimum Wages Act. The matter was also brought to the notice of the Labour Department, Pune, which corroborated the complaints in its Inspection carried out on 22nd February 2013. In the presence of the Labour Inspector, PCMC authorities committed to withholding payment to BVG Kshitij till they verified the actual wages paid out to the workers. Workers are frustrated that they have not been paid the wages due to them and neither have they been given attendance cards. This amounts to violation of the provisions of the Contract Labour Act by BVG Kshitij.
KKPKP representative, Harshad Barde, has systematically and painstakingly collated information under the Right to Information Act which clearly establishes that BVG Kshitij  has been manipulating statutory attendance records. The company has been manipulating attendance records either in connivance with or right under the noses of PCMC authorities. The attendance records kept under the PCMC-BVG contract for imposing penalties on BVG show very low absenteeism of helpers on vehicles. But the records maintained for payment of Minimum Wages to workers under the Minimum Wages Act show much lower worker attendance. The discrepancy between the two attendance records is around four thousand man days of work per month for around 14 months. All this has been communicated to the Municipal Commissioner, Shri.Shrikar Pardeshi. The actual payment to workers has been done on the basis of falsified attendance records showing that each of them has worked for around 10-12 days per month while they have actually worked for a full month to make the wages correspond.

“We want to follow the correct route to ensure that our grievances are redressed. We approached the Municipal Commissioner who directed us to the Labour Welfare Officer Shri. Indalkar and the Labour Commissioner Shri. Hendre. We approached both of them and are going to continue to barrage them with our demands till they are met. We are only seeking what is rightfully ours” says Kashi bai Torad. “But what am I to do if they pay me Rs. 400 for the entire month of February when I have worked 23 full days for 8 long back breaking hours, each day! How am I to feed my family on Rs. 17 per day? My record for the month of February as per BVG shows one day of work”.

Shobha Fasle was shunted from work site to work site and has not been paid at all. Moreover when she went to draw the balance of Rs.63 using her BVG Kshitij company ATM card, she had to pay Rs.10 to a sidekick for every withdrawal. As if that were not enough she had to stand by and watch frustratedly as Rs.10 vanished as bank transaction costs for each withdrawal”. So much for the much touted benefits of electronic transfers which seem to benefit the banks at the cost of the workers!

Lakshmi Narayanan, General Secretary of KKPKP adds, “We continue to keep faith in our government and public servants. We have chosen to pursue the matter with the Municipal and Labour Department to ensure justice to workers.  As solid waste management is a critical and essential service, we have exercised restraint to ensure that workers provide uninterrupted services and not cause a health and hygiene problem for the citizens of PCMC.

In a meeting convened today by Shri. Phutane, Labour Inspector, the PCMC agreed that prima facie there were discrepancies in the attendance records maintained and the actual payments made. The representative of BVG Kshitij asked for 1 ½ months time to verify the records for the month of February. Shri. Phutane concurred with KKPKP that records that are used as a basis of payment for work each month cannot take 1 ½ months to verify. The Labour department has called for verified records on April 3^rd 2013.

Nepalese waste workers campaign for recognition and respect (newspaper clipping in Nepalese).

By Srijana Devkota
Project Manager, PRISM Project
Practical Action, Nepal.

Nepal – March 25, 2013.

PRISM project organised a Behaviour Change Campaign (BCC) on 25 March 2013 with the objective of garnering respect and recognition for waste worker’s contributions to the solid waste management sector in Nepal, with a brand message, “Informal Waste Workers: Deserving respect for their contributions.”

It was a first of its kind BCC campaign targeting waste workers in Nepal and was a grand success, with the participation of about 750 people. The event was able to meet its objective by grabbing the attention of a huge number of people and media personnel. The programme was fully supported by Government of Nepal, the Delegation of European Union to Nepal, Solid Waste Management and Technical Support Centre (SWMTSC), Municipalities of Kathmandu Valley, distinguished guests from different sectors, non-state actors involved in Solid Waste Management and hundreds of informal waste workers. The informal waste workers participating in the event were excited and enthusiastic about the event and expressed that they were a part of such a programme for the first time in their lives.

PRISM project has identified more than 5,000 Informal waste workers in the Kathmandu valley and about 46 informal self-help groups. The BCC campaign included a Walkathon, Signature campaign and consultative workshop to RESPECT and RECOGNISE informal waste workers in Solid Waste Management.

The workshop included the following activities:

• Walkathon (general public and waste pickers walked together with banners and play cards with the message: RESPECT and RECOGNITION) 
• Signature campaign (signatures were collected from people of all walks of life)
• Poster presentations and public service announcements (highlighting waste picker’s contribution) were screened/aired
• In the opening of the workshop, the signature banner was handed over to the chief guest of the workshop, Executive Director Dr. Sumitra Amatya, Solid Waste Management and Technical Support Centre (SWMTSC), Government of Nepal.
• Presentations by waste workers about social recognition, behaviour change, formation of Network and Cooperative (SASAJA)
• Theatrical performance (highlighting the contribution and health aspects of waste workers)
• Remarks by special Guests and chief guest

SWaCH is a collective of self-employed waste pickers that provides waste collection and management services. It publishes a quarterly newsletter. The latest has a lot of great articles! Included is an article about SWaCH and KKPKP waste pickers making their demands known to state government officials last month. They demanded registration of waste pickers as workers, livelihood protection and education for waste pickers’ children. Members spoke out eloquently about their struggle and demands.

In another article, SWaCH gives an update on the fight against the privatization of waste management in Pune and discusses why weight based systems — such as the one a private contractor there is using — don’t work. The weight-based system could even discourage citizens from recycling! In other news, SWaCH will be launching a school program on waste generation, which aims to make school children more aware about waste, the people behind it, and how it affects the environment. Also included is the moving biography of a proud SWaCH waste picker, and a list of trainings and workshops, including one about India’s Right to Education, a law that gives disadvantaged children access to education. This is just a summary! Check out the complete newsletter!

Photo credit: Federico Parra.

By Federico Parra, Regional coordinator for Latin America, Waste Picker Program, WIEGO

After over 20 years of fighting for recognition and inclusion in the city’s waste management system, the organized waste pickers of Bogota finally saw their dreams come true when the Bogotá government issued them in March of this year their first payment for the collection and transportation of recyclable materials. It was the first time they were paid as public service providers to the city.

This victory cannot be explained without looking back at the ongoing struggle of the Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB) for waste pickers’ rights and livelihoods. Their strategies have included numerous legal claims, demonstrations, support from legal advocacy groups and communication campaigns to both prevent private firms from monopolizing waste management in the city and to be recognized as an integral part of that system.

The strategic decision to use the judiciary system has proven to be a successful means of reaching these goals. Since 2003, the Constitutional Court has issued various resolutions and orders recognizing waste pickers as subjects of special state protection. The Court has also acknowledged that to overcome poverty and waste pickers´ vulnerability, municipal authorities need to recognize and remunerate them as service providers in the collection and transportation of waste, and that attention should be given to the strengthening of their organizations and their entrepreneurial potential.

But despite these guidelines, until the end of 2011, the Bogotá government continued to opt for a welfare approach that was not helpful in the empowerment of the waste pickers. They continued to be excluded from the public waste management system. That’s why in 2011, the Bogotá court strongly intervened by issuing Order 275, providing municipal authorities with clear instructions to ensure that waste pickers would be included in the waste management system. In response to the court order, the current municipal government developed a transition model of inclusion, divided into two phases. The first phase is made up of the following five steps:

• The development of a census of waste pickers in Bogota to define who will benefit from these policies. A post-census process will need to be put in place to incorporate people who were excluded.
• The development of a campaign for waste separation at source. Waste pickers would be in charge of collecting these recyclable materials.
•  The certification of private warehouses where materials submitted by waste pickers would be officially weighed and registered.
• Access and inclusion to simple banking services for waste pickers, under which all the people counted in the census and included in phase 1 of the initiative would have a personal bank account. Payments for services provided between December 12, 2012 and the end of February 2013 would be deposited in these accounts.
• Payment to the 790 – of the 4,000 incorporated into the newly established banking system – waste pickers on March 21, 2013. Payment was calculated at a rate of 87,000 Colombian Pesos (about $48 USD) per ton collected and transported and is equivalent to the rate paid to private operators for tonne of waste transported and disposed of in the landfill. The money to pay for these services comes out of the cleansing fee charged by the city of Bogota. The only difference is that now instead of being directed in full to private or cleansing companies, this fee is shared as well with the service providers in the areas of collection and transportation of recyclables – namely, waste pickers.

The process of inclusion is an ongoing one. To date, there are 14,400 waste pickers registered in the census. Further efforts need to be made to incorporate them into the banking sector, and to increase the number of official points to weight and register for the payment transfers. In addition, many waste pickers lack proper IDs. The District Capital Administration has begun to resolve this issue.

Phase 2 of the process will consist in the strengthening of existing waste pickers’ organizations and their entrepreneurial skills on one hand, and promoting the creation of new organizations on the other. An additional benefit of this process is that any waste picker in Colombia, living in poverty and vulnerable conditions and where there is a public or private waste management system, can now demand the same treatment that was granted to waste pickers in Bogota. This means that:

• Waste pickers shall be an integral part of the public cleansing service’s collection and transportation of recyclables, and
• Waste pickers’ organizational and entrepreneurial abilities to provide these services, as well as their due payment are key pathways in which municipal authorities seek to enable them overcome their poverty and vulnerable conditions.

I am writing to share with you, the beginning of the process of paying recyclers in Bogotá (and the rest of Colombia) for their service of collecting and transporting recyclable waste. Today, March 12, 2013, 250 waste pickers, mostly members of the ARB, received from the Mayor, the “PIN” or banking system, through which the Mayor is going to grant payment for the tons transported since December 2012.

This single payment method is transitional but it is very effective, as it relieves pressure on organizational processes, provides sufficient time to strengthen existing organizations, and avoids the creation of fake recyclers’ organizations.

I think the first payment is the key moment, as it’s legally called “an accomplished fact”, and means that all other recyclers in the Colombia may demand the same treatment and the same solutions recyclers in Bogotá have achieved. This will be so important for our future work, sharing with others municipalities these court orders, creating possibilities of negotiation between authorities and recyclers, and developing inclusive models of waste management. I’ll be sharing with you the progress of this process.

Leaders of RECRED, the nascent waste picker’s network in the DRC, held a meeting on March 1st in honor of Global Waste Pickers’ Day. Photo credits: RECRED.

A meeting for exchanging and sharing experiences was held on March 1st, 2013, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo in honor of Global Waste Pickers’ Day. Leaders of RECRED, the nascent waste picker’s network in the DRC, got together to discuss three main issues: network activities, health care, and how to strengthen the sector. It was noted that since the first steps towards a national network of waste pickers were taken in October of 2012, a few associations have been cooperating and have made contact with local authorities. The participants discussed the need for appropriate protective equipment at work as well as health insurance. There is a need to create cooperatives for access to microcredit, as well as workspace for selling and storing materials collectively. This meeting allowed members of RECRED to consolidate in order to invite other waste pickers who work individually to join the network.

Here are some images from our events celebrated on the 1st of March in Bogotá.

A. Preparation and Convocation
B. Union Forum
C. Floral Offering (at Bolivar Plaza in memory of our brothers and sisters recicladores assassinated in Colombia between 1982 and 1992)
D. Panel (academia, production cycle, local governments, waste management companies, waste pickers)

Salutations

silvio ruiz grisales
Reciclador

Recicladores of the Americas and the world. Brothers and sisters in struggle,

Today is a very special day for the people that day after day get up to give their best in our struggles, each and every one of the waste pickers in the region, from different countries.

We are of different cultures, different skin colors, different languages and religious beliefs. But we hold one same idea in our struggle: Dignity of work, inclusion, and recognition. 

Brothers and sisters, yet another year has passed but we have the satisfaction of knowing that we have made achievements. The struggle continues and we won’t give up as long as we know that in the most remote place in the world where there are waste pickers, there is dignified and inclusive work for every one of them.

Brothers and sisters, the struggle continues and we put all of our strength into the coming year so that instead of taking this important day to state our demands to authorities, it will be a day in which each one of us from these different countries that today is fighting for them to comply with their laws and agreements … that on this day  in the following years we can celebrate triumphantly and say that we have succeeded.

We have faith and hope that God all powerful will help us achieve our objectives. 

Brothers and sisters, the stronger the storm behind, the calmer the way forward…

Listen, listen, upwards those who struggle!

There are no borders for the victories of our struggle!

Communications secretariat

Red Lacre

Alex Cardoso, MNCR, at the People’s Summit, Rio de Janeiro, June 2012.

Brothers and sisters,

Today is still very far from being the day of happiness which all human beings yearn for, but certainly, bringing to light and to memory the tragic events that happened 26 years ago makes us reflect better on where we are today.

Everyone knows about our problems and difficulties, but everyone also knows about the spirit and strength we possess to solve our problems and transform our difficulties into past tense.

We, waste pickers, are a group of people that live in all corners of the Earth, therefore we must declare our struggle so that everyone will know that we exist.

Our biggest victory is ourselves, our organizations and our brothers and sisters – the rest are merely the fruits of the small seeds we’ve planted. 

With the passing of time, we will continue to resist and little by little, advance. 

From the north to the south, from up to down, where there are waste pickers, we know we aren’t alone. 

Viva the international day of waste pickers!

Who doesn’t move doesn’t feel the chains that bind him or her, therefore, let’s move!

- Alex Cardoso
Movimento Nacional dos Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis-MNCR
(National Movement of Brazilian Waste Pickers)
Cooperativa dos Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis do Loteamento Cavalhada-ASCAT