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
Supported by Logo WIEGO

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Written by MNCR-RS

Region

Country Brazil

March 08, 2014


03/08/2014

mulher bonita

For women waste pickers, March 8 is a day of struggle – a struggle for inclusive recycling and for the end of inequality in recycling. Inclusive recycling is recycling by the waste pickers, in their associations and cooperatives. It understands the entire production process: public service provision, segregation of waste, to industrialization of recyclables. Inclusive recycling is already a practice in many places around the country, but many waste pickers continue to suffer exploration and lack of payment for the service they provide. When things get difficult, we women bend over backwards to make sure nothing is missing at home. That’s why are fighting for 100 percent recycling with 100 percent social inclusion. We are fighting for contracts based on a new model of integrated solid waste management – a system that promotes waste management with public participation and social inclusion. We say no to incineration, no to privatization. We say no to the “containerization” of waste, because we don’t believe “makeovers” will solve our problems. We demand a national program for investment in inclusive recycling (PRONAREP) that would finance and prioritize waste pickers’ organizations. This would support the small waste pickers’ associations working on landfills to those that are already engaging in commercialization through networks, among other social and financial supports. We waste pickers of Rio Grande do Sul fight every day against oppression. In the Uruguaiana landfill, we have fought incineration and in the metropolitan region, we fight against the privatization of waste. On March 8, we call all women to the struggle. Like all working women, we demand the right to childcare, housing, and public health. For food sovereignty, inclusive recycling, the well-being of women and our earth! Access the original article in Portuguese