GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF
WASTE PICKERS
WASTE PICKERS
The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers is a networking process supported by WIEGO, among thousands of waste picker organizations with groups in more than 28 countries covering mainly Latin America, Asia and Africa.
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Global Waste Picker Day 2020 is coming 
Life & Voices
Get to know waste picker leaders who have actively participated in the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers process.
Where are we?
Provisional list of hundreds of waste pickers’ groups around the globe.
Recent newsletter
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News from Waste Pickers around the world
Organizing
In Memoriam: Exequiel Estay Tapia
Today the wastepicker movement lost one of its strongest leaders, and certainly one of the most visible and well known recycler from Latinamerica, the Chilean Exequiel Estay Tapia....
Picking through the Memories of Women Wastepickers of Bengaluru
Five women gather in a room in the office of Hasiru Dala to talk of the life spent wastepicking. Chinnapillai (70), Sharada (60) and Aniyamma (58) have been at it for 45 years, Lak...
Panchkula’s Wastepickers Left Dumpsite and Now Do Composting
Last year in July, I received a phone call from Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Panchkula (a town in the North Indian province of Haryana). As much as I like...
Mangaloreans Initiate Removal of Plastic Waste from Their Coastline
When we think of marine/ocean plastic pollution, we think of now-famous images by western photographers – the seahorse coiled around a cotton bud, the turtle with a straw stu...
Waste Pickers’ voice heard at the UN- World Habitat Day in Mexico
On account of the World Habitat Day held by the United Nations last October 7th, 2019, Abel Balderas Ramirez was invited, on behalf of the waste pickers’ sector and the Global Al...
Threats
The State of Waste-pickers Turned Sanitary Workers in 2nd Cleanest City of India: Irregular Salaries, No Occupational Safety Gear and No Medical Leave
The story of the second cleanest city in India-Bhopal and those who keep the city clean. The waste-pickers turned sanitary workers (Safai Karmacharis) in Bhopal are ill-paid, salar...
Waste Pickers under Attack in Downtown Buenos Aires
In April, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires deployed garbage containers that excluded and stigmatized urban waste pickers. These are smart containers that can only be open...
Brazil: Huge Protest against Waste Incineration
On June 7, thousands of Brazilian waste pickers, who have been organized under the National Movement of Waste Pickers of Recyclable Materials in Brazil (MNCR) since 2001, marched t...
India’s cleanest city Indore evicting waste-pickers from work
The Alliance of Indian Waste-pickers condemns exclusion of waste-pickers in Indore. To prepare for Swachh Bharat Survey 2019 (Clean India Survey 2019), the Indore Municipal Corpora...
Indore’s Wastepicker in Buenos Aires
Koushlya Bai is a waste-picker from Indore, associated with Janvikas Society. She is participating in the exchange of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers, as a representative of A...
Publications
Watch the feature film “Waste Picking Stories”
The feature film “Waste Picking Stories” (Catadores de História) directed by filmmaker Tania Quaresma was released on online platforms on December 13, 2018. It receive...
The Manual for Social Entitlements for Waste Pickers is out by Alliance of Indian Waste-pickers
Informal waste recyclers (waste pickers and informal waste collectors) constitute 1% of urban population in developing nations as per the World Bank. As an occupational group, wast...
An interview with Marleninha, Coordinator of ASMAC
Marlene Lourenço Perreira (Marleninha) Born in 1953 in Pescador, Brazil, Marlene comes from a big family: she has 10 siblings, 7 women and 3 men. All of them are alive – a b...
Lucilene Nogueira: the lifestory of a brave waste picker
Lucilene Lorentino Santos Nogueira Lucilene was born in 1969 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her parents work in the old dumpsite of Nova Granada in the outskirts of the city. They woul...
Launching Voices of Waste Pickers radio show
Voices of waste pickers is a collaborative project, to amplify the voices of waste pickers across the globe. Co-produced by the community, the audio series gives you a glimpse into...
