Waste pickers from Bokk Diom work on their integration into waste management

Waste pickers of Mbeubeuss (Dakar’s public landfill) initiated research into alternative livelihoods motivated by the threats to their work at the landfills.
In November 2021, the waste pickers of Mbeubeuss (Dakar’s public landfill) initiated research into alternative livelihoods. This activity is motivated by the threats to their work at the landfill with the new state waste management programme, which excludes them from the scheme that will be put in place.

Under this research, the activities carried out in this study focused on:

• Identifying the gaps in the waste management system, where unmanaged waste is being dumped into the oceans:
• Identifying the difficulties and opportunities of selective household sorting with the local population;
• The identification of starting points for research and exploration of alternative livelihoods for the reclaimers of Mbeubeuss.

The field research activities were carried out with the fishing communities and the populations of the communes of Malika, Yoff Layène and Thiaroye Sur Mer. An action plan has been put in place and the idea is to include all the results in the development of the cooperative that the reclaimers are setting up at the same time as the research.

Bokk Diom is a waste picker organization that operates in the Mbeubeuss, the only landfill serving the entire city of Dakar.