Insights from the International Alliance of Waste Pickers’ Peer-to-Peer Learning Exchange – May 2025
In recent years, governments across the Global South have begun shutting down open-air dumpsites, citing environmental protection, public health, and modernization. While these goals may seem positive, waste pickers across multiple countries are sounding the alarm: these closures are being carried out without consultation, without alternatives, and without recognition of the people whose livelihoods depend on reclaiming recyclable materials from waste.
To document and confront this trend, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) held a peer-to-peer learning exchange in May 2025, bringing together voices from over 15 countries. The goal was to hear directly from waste picker organizations about how dumpsite closures are impacting their lives, work, and organizing.
The conversation was urgent, political, and deeply personal. It revealed a global pattern of exclusion — but also a shared call to action.
A Global Pattern of Exclusion
Participants described similar experiences across contexts: abrupt closures, repression, criminalization, and the absence of formal recognition or transition planning. Waste Picker leaders testimonies made clear that these are not isolated incidents — they are part of a broader shift driven by privatization, opaque governance, and development agendas that ignore informal workers.
Senegal – Harouna Niasse (Bokk Diom):
“This is not a transition — it is a forced expulsion. If you exclude the people who built the recycling system, you are destroying it.”
Indonesia – Pris Polly (IPI):
“We are being treated like slaves. They don’t close the dumpsites overnight — they just make it unbearable. People leave with nothing.”
Kenya – Brian Gisore (KENAWPWA):
“The environmental officer came with only one word: ‘Vacate.’ No plan, no compensation, no dialogue.”
Brazil – Roselaine “Neguinha” (MNCR):
“Most waste pickers in Brazil are women, and many are Black. If we are not in the plans, we are out of the future.”
Ghana – Johnson Doe:
“We are trying to survive by collecting door to door. But we are excluded from the system that governs the work we do every day.”
India – Jay Prakash Chaudhary (Safai Sena):
“We don’t want compensation. We want to be part of the system.”
Guatemala – Carlos ‘Charly’ Soto (ACEANO):
“They want to close our dumpsite without talking to us. We have organized into cooperatives and are demanding direct contracts.”
Argentina – Jacqui Flores (FACCyR / Province of Buenos Aires):
“Women waste pickers have long been educators. We are the ones who go door to door, explaining what is recyclable and what is not, promoting segregation at source.”
“There can be no system without social inclusion.”
From Testimony to Strategy
Many participants rejected what they called false green transitions — initiatives led by private contractors or global financing bodies that promise modernization while erasing the role of informal workers.
Speakers emphasized the need for governments and institutions to recognize waste pickers not only as workers but as environmental educators, organizers, and experts in circular economies.
There was also a shared concern about the lack of gender and racial justice in official waste policies. Several interventions highlighted the invisibilization of Black women, migrant workers, and rural recyclers in waste governance frameworks.
Sonia Dias drew from Brazil’s experience to reflect on the political dimensions of dumpsite closures, calling attention to the need for education, cross-border solidarity, and public policy informed by lived experience.
Ing. Manuel Mateu (Argentina) addressed the influence of multilateral banks and private consultants in shaping exclusionary reforms:
“For these projects to succeed, they must be built with the people who have sustained recycling for decades.”
Dr. Melanie Samson (South Africa) closed the session with a sharp synthesis:
“The testimonies we heard today are not just stories — they are evidence.
Evidence of what’s wrong, and of what needs to be done differently.”
What Comes Next: Session 2 and a Common Voice
To continue the process, the IAWP will host a second session on 28 August 2025, focused on hearing the remaining testimonies, and specially opening a collective discussion with affiliates on what IAWP’s political position on dumpsite closures should be.
This next session will include guiding questions and a method for collecting member input — both oral and written. These contributions will form the basis of a shared IAWP Position Document to guide advocacy, campaigns, and regional strategy.
Download the full report from Session 1
Save the date: 28 August 2025 – Session 2
By Carolina Palacio, Workers’ Education Coordinator – IAWP
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