
Category: Privatization


Press Release in Support of Colombian Waste Pickers’ Rights

Rafey Eco-park recyclers claim immediate release of detainees

Johannesburg’s New Waste Programme Threatens Reclaimers’ Work

Will Waste Pickers in Turkey Join the Unemployed Army?
Informal waste pickers have been excluded from the Environmental Law in Turkey. The law emphasizes waste collection that is performed by licensed firms.

Waste pickers in the Dominican Republic attacked in protest

Waste pickers to stop subsidising the Pune Municipal Corporation!
In 2007 waste pickers in Pune stepped out of garbage containers to establish SWaCH, a workers cooperative to provide front end waste management services to their city. SWaCH enabled their transition from waste pickers to service providers.

The struggle for waste pickers’ rights in Pune continues
Pressure against the private contractors has been mounting since the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal government (PCMC) withheld payment from the company for violating labor laws. The new contracts proposed by the city government are supposed to ensure that workers will be paid minimum wages.

Safai Sena waste pickers protest exploitation by private contractors
On August 16, 2013, over 250 waste recyclers of Safai Sena held a protest in front of Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam office. Many of them marched over 12 kilometers despite heavy rains that day. The protest was organized to raise a collective voice against the illegal collection of money by private contractors and exploitation of waste recyclers in Kavi Nagar and Mohan Nagar zones.

The company BVG Kshitij violates Minimum Wages and Contract Labor in Pimpri Chinchwad
The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation authorities had been shockingly apathetic to the inhuman treatment to over 400 waste workers employed by its contractor BVG Kshitij. In frustration, the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP) called for a public “verification drive” to ascertain the exact wages paid to workers by the company.
A landfill in León, Nicaragua catches fire
On January 1, a fire broke out in the municipal landfill of León, Nicaragua. According to Red Lacre, bad management by the municipal government and Cielo Group, the company responsible for the landfill’s operations, was the cause of the fire.
Major victory at the High Court benefits SWaCH waste pickers
SWaCH — a waste picker-owned cooperative that was responsible for recycling throughout half of Pune, India — has been fighting a battle since it was squeezed out by a private contractor hired by the municipal government.

Nigerian waste pickers are organizing!
The Second Organizing Meetings with Waste Pickers was held in seven target cities in Nigeria. The purpose of the meetings is to support waste pickers’ organizing so they can better represent and protect themselves and have a platform to relate with members of the public, the government, waste dealers and other end users in a more organized way.
Solidarity with Costa Rican waste pickers after landfill closure
In December, Sujeylin Isabel Ordoñez Quesada, a waste picker with “Cooperativa de Recuperadores del Pacifico R.L (COOPEREPA)” of Costa Rica, sent an email to Red Lacre (Latin American Network of Waste Pickers) requesting advice about what actions to take in regards to the closure of the Parque Ambiental de Garabito landfill and the likely loss of the livelihoods of the 18 families working there.

New film by waste pickers about impact of carbon credits: “Credits vs Carbon Credits”
Chintan Environmental Research & Action Group and Safai Sena just released a new documentary, Credits vs Carbon Credits. The film explores the effects of large projects vying for carbon credits on the livelihoods of waste pickers.

Waste pickers’ workshop in Kinshasa, DRC
The second round of a workshop to support waste pickers organizing in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, was held in January of 2013. The Congolese Women’s Right League, a StreetNet affiliate, with support from WIEGO, organized an event that brought together 30 waste picker delegates from Bandundu, Bas Congo and Kinshasa.

Video – Chronicles of a struggle for inclusion: The December 2012 garbage crisis in Bogota
“Chronicles of a struggle for inclusion: The December 2012 garbage crisis of Bogota” shows organized waste pickers promptly taking actions to reduce the impact of the garbage crisis in Bogota and giving an account of the series of unfortunate events and bad decisions that led to it, and of their struggles and victories throughout time to secure their rights and livelihoods.