Dianjin Ma

Dianjin Ma, from Beijing, China, has been working as a waste picker since 1993. In China, there are no waste pickers’ cooperatives or organizations, he says. Dianjin collects recyclables from the streets and sells them  to a middleman. He has to pay the community he collects the recyclables from.

“In China it’s totally market-owned – there is no government support to waste pickers,” he said. Participating in the Pune workshop was a way to learn about other countries’ solutions.

“I would like to learn how waste pickers run things by themselves,” he said. His biggest concerns are his children’s education, health insurance and pension.