As waste pickers around the world prepare to commemorate International Waste Pickers Day on March 1, workers in Senegal and Italy suffered catastrophic losses when police evicted them from their workplaces, while workers in Canada continue to struggle for decent work under new extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation.
March 1, 2025: On February 24th, police entered the Mbeubeuss dumpsite and forcefully evicted hundreds of waste pickers from their workplace, despite ongoing negotiations with waste picker organization Bokk Diom. Police also set fire to their worksites, decimating their materials and main source of livelihood. Seventeen people were arrested. Although more than 1,000 waste pickers are able to continue working on other parts of the dumpsite, they will ultimately also be evicted and work in fear.
The progressive closure of the Mbeubeuss dumpsite is part of Senegal’s World Bank-financed PROMOGED project, which is often heralded in international spheres as a model circular economy investment. This week’s actions by government and police show a gross disregard for the Bank’s livelihood safeguard requirements – which require resettlement compensation or the establishment of social programs to mitigate the project’s impacts on waste pickers, livelihoods restoration and reskilling support. The actions taken so far have failed to ensure a just transition for waste pickers and other informal economy workers of Mbeubeuss.
Italy: Brutal Eviction of Thirty Waste Pickers
Two days later in Palermo, Italy, municipal police raided an area near the historic Ballarò market, brutally and arbitrarily evicting 30 second-hand vendors. These second-hand vendors also identify as waste pickers given they collect second-hand goods from streets and households. This is one of five areas in and around the market where vendors sell second-hand goods. Waste pickers fear that the municipality intends to evict them little by little and will soon turn to other areas of the market. Despite efforts to open a dialogue for the right to sell their goods in public spaces with the local municipality – an effort which was supported by the University of Palermo and the Bishop – negotiations collapsed without explanation.
“They want to cancel us”, said Margherita Sauro, President of the Sbaratto Association, which represents hundreds of reuse operators in the historic Palermo market.
Sbaratto is an active member of Rete ONU – the National Network of Second-Hand Dealers – a trade association that defends the interests of Italian second-hand dealers. The second-hand sector is made up of about 100,000 workers, mostly family-run micro-enterprises and vulnerable street traders.
Alessandro Stillo, National Spokesperson for Rete ONU, added that, “With Directive 98/2008, Europe asks Member States to encourage local reuse networks, and Law 13 of 2009 requires local authorities to promote second-hand markets for ecological purposes. Waste pickers demand that the Municipality of Palermo recognize their reuse supply chains, which should be supported and integrated into environmental policy.”
Canada: Waste Pickers Fight for Inclusion in Quebec’s new Extended Producer Responsibility System
Meanwhile, in Montreal, Canada, the coopérative Les Valoristes continues to fight for better conditions in their operation of a beverage container redemption depot under the province’s Deposit Return System. With the rollout of the province’s newly modernized Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system this month, industry actors responsible for implementing the system are ignoring previous offers to provide the waste picker cooperative with support for machinery and better payment for the processing of deposit beverage containers.
“We don’t understand why the industry doesn’t help us more. The modernisation of the system starts today and they are not even ready. Many commitments have been unfulfilled. But we are here and ready!,” said Marica Vazquez Talgliero, Director of coop Les Valoristes.
International Alliance Calls for a Just Transition for all Waste Pickers
“The International Alliance of Waste Pickers stands in solidarity with courageous waste pickers who face daily violence on dumpsites and in streets, and who endure displacement from their workplaces without viable alternatives” said Severino Lima Jr., President of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers. “Over 40 million waste pickers worldwide are vital to material recovery, recycling, and reuse. They actively combat plastic pollution and address climate change yet their livelihoods are under increasing threat. As governments close dumpsites, privatize waste collection and enact circular economy policies without engaging us, waste pickers only grow in number while our economic piece of the pie shrinks. Local and national governments must recognize our rights, and guarantee a just transition for waste pickers.”
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Editor’s Notes:
About the International Alliance of Waste Pickers
The International Alliance of Waste Pickers is a union of waste picker organizations representing more than 460,000 workers across 34 countries. See: https://globalrec.org
About International Waste Pickers Day
Waste pickers gather on March 1st each year to pay homage to their comrades who were murdered in Colombia in 1992, when university guards lured and killed more than 11 waste pickers and sold their bodies for research and organ trafficking. International Waste Pickers Day aims to honour the memories of waste pickers who tragically lost their lives in Colombia, as well as the multitudes of other waste pickers who struggle daily for recognition, rights and their livelihoods.
This year, International Waste Pickers Day marks an especially crucial moment for waste pickers. It is an opportunity to rally around the UN Plastics Treaty- an important environmental agreement with the potential to help or harm waste pickers. This treaty must recognize waste pickers’ rights in international law, reduce plastic pollution, and guarantee a just transition for waste pickers. A treaty with mandatory just transition provisions would uplift over 40 million waste pickers worldwide, secure livelihoods, and affirm waste pickers’ essential role in safeguarding the planet. The IAWP calls on governments to finalize this treaty without delay, and urges every waste picker to advocate for a future that respects waste pickers’ contributions.
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