I am writing this email on behalf of All India Kabadi Mazdoor Mahasangh(AIKMM). There has been a massive fire in Masoodpur in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi around 7:30 am on 25 April 2014, where waste recyclers live. Approximately 1000 huts (Jhuggi) were razed to the ground.
In a video produced by ARB and supported by WIEGO, Silvio Ruiz Grisales, a Colombian recycler, spoke about the continued fight for the right to waste management in Bogotá.
Ladies and gentlemen the elected municipal officials, you must stop suppressing waste picking and trading, talking about doing so or obsessing over it! Rather, create new market areas as biffins, everywhere, are waiting and expecting a policy worthy of the name, which recognizes the value of the junk trade and provides the space it deserves. Let us speed up the junk business! All to the junk market!
For women waste pickers, March 8 is a day of struggle – a struggle for inclusive recycling and for the end of inequality in recycling.
Little research exists about gender relations and divisions among waste pickers. A collaborative project involving waste pickers in Latin America seeks to shed light on the multiple levels of discrimination that women waste pickers face and their needs.
Organized waste pickers are the subject of an agreement in Ecuador between the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of the Environment, the Institute of Popular Economy and the National Network of Waste Pickers of Ecuador (Renarec), with the support of the Avina Foundation
On February 12, activists and citizens were present at the City Hall of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to alert representatives of the risks of approving two pieces of legislation that would permit incineration technology in the city.
A Women’s International Center will honor the waste picker Maria Monica da Silva with the Living Legacy Prize on February 22, for her work promoting environmental justice and support of inclusive recycling in São Paulo, Brazil; Monica was nominated for the prize by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and by Other Worlds Are Possible.
As of 14 January, Gustavo Petro was still the mayor of Bogotá. But only for 10 days. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.
The 6th Latin American Assembly of Waste Pickers was held in São Paulo, on December 17 and 18th of 2013. Reunited in solidarity with our brothers and sister “recyclers” and 33 delegates from 15 countries and members of Red Lacre, we have had the opportunity to come together to dialogue, debate, and share experiences.
The 6th Latin American Assembly of Waste Pickers was held in São Paulo, on December 17 and 18th of 2013. Reunited in solidarity with our brothers and sister “recyclers” and 33 delegates from 15 countries and members of Red Lacre, we have had the opportunity to come together to dialogue, debate, and share experiences.
The documentary “La Basura de Hoy, el Tesoro de Mañana” includes moving testimonies from Bolivian waste pickers. The film aims to bring consciousness to the struggles, necessities and support that waste pickers, often not valued for their contributions, need as they struggle to bring dignity to the important social work they do.
We invite concerned groups and individuals across the globe to support a petition by Bogota’s informal recyclers (waste pickers) urging Colombia’s Inspector-General, Alejandro Ordóñez, to reverse the decision to oust the democratically-elected Mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro. The ruling against Mayor Petro was based on actions he took against private waste management companies in the process of implementing an inclusive Zero Waste Program in Bogota.
On November 20-21, waste pickers came together in the city of Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia, Venezuela, for their 3rd National Conference. The objective of the conference was to begin designing the Waste Pickers’ Plan for recycling collection in municipalities.
At the end of November, the National Movement of Brazilian Waste Pickers organized a week of solidarity with the workers of the Uruguaiana dumpsite, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The waste pickers there have been working in the city for more than 50 years.
SAWPA came together in November to object to the proposal by EnviroServ to construct a waste incineration facility at the Chloorkop waste site, calling on the government to deny EnviroServ permission to build a waste incinerator facility at Chloorkop.
November 8th was the Global Day of Action Against Incineration. More than 25 actions in 14 countries across six continents were held to protest incineration and promote zero waste and socially inclusive alternatives.
On October 26th, organized waste pickers of the Dominican Republic launched their National Movement. Its objective is to demand public policies that are socially inclusive for the thousands of recicladores that work the landfills and streets of the Dominican Republic.
Despite South Africa’s waste management legislation stipulating that incineration be the last resort in waste disposal, approximately 300 waste pickers on the Chloorkop landfill in Kempton Park are set to lose their jobs as a result of Enviroserve’s proposed waste-to-energy incinerator.
