Waste pickers in Chile and Madrid stand up for the Earth

March against incineration plant in Paris, during COP (2015).

Following its cancellation in Chile, the COP25 was held at its new location in Madrid, and both waste pickers and members of the WIEGO Network joined the activists at events simultaneously held in Santiago (Chile) and Madrid (Spain) in December 2019.

Chile: As part of the People’s Summit that was held, there was a meeting of RedLacre, the Latin American and Caribbean Waste Pickers Network. Among other events, we can mention: the presentation of the book Recycling without female waste pickers is garbage; the Latin American waste pickers assembly; and the workshops aimed at providing waste pickers with knowledge and tools to fight for their livelihoods.

Madrid: The presentation of “Don’t burn our future: waste pickers’ fights against incineration” was held as part of the Climate Social Summit. The event focused on finding more ecological alternatives to incineration, and included the participation of members of Amelior (Association of Waste Pickers from Montreuil, France), the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers and WIEGO.