“Maria – Queen of Cardboard” (Green Times)
South Africa – 10 Feb 2011 – Her territory is a labyrinth of hidden refuse rooms bathed in charcoal light. Masterfully she flattens a mountain of discarded cardboard bo...
GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF
WASTE PICKERS
WASTE PICKERS
The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers is a networking process supported by WIEGO, among thousands of waste picker organizations with groups in more than 28 countries covering mainly Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Supported by
Africa
“Registrar visits Karuri over illegal dumpsites” (The Star)
Kenya – 4 Feb 2012 – THE deputy registrar of the Constitutional court in Nairobi has made an extensive tour of Karuri town in Kiambu to establish the truth over allegat...
Learning from India
Aliou Faye is a 34 years old Senegalese waste picker who has worked in Mbeubeuss landfill in Dakar for the last 16 years. He is vice-president of the waste pickers’ organisation in his landfill, Bokk Diomm.
Una carta de los recicladores de Senegal: 70 recicladores perderon sus pertenencias en un incendio vertedero
Hola a todos, En primer lugar, presentamos nuestros mejores deseos y éxito en todas sus trabajos. Sólo tenemos que informarles que este largo silencio no es una omisión de nuest...
A letter from Senegalese waste pickers: 70 waste pickers lose their belongings in a landfill fire
The village of Gouy-Gui burned Thursday, January 19 and almost 70 waste pickers have lost their possessions. Our partners came to us and even the Minister of Public Health came to see the site of the fire.
Une lettre/photos de recuperateurs sénégalais: Enfouissement Brûlés, 70 recycleurs perdent biens
Bonjour à toutes et à tous, Tout d’abord nous vous présentons nos voeux les meilleurs et une réussite dans toutes vos entreprises. Nous venons par cette présente pour in...
Video: The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers – Global Day of Action for Climate Justice
On Dec. 3, the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers and Allies marched in the streets of Durban demanding climate justice. Enjoy the video! Global Alliance of Waste Pickers – Glo...
“Scavengers’ Search For Survival On Refuse Sites” (Leadership)
Nigeria – 29 Jan 2012 – Health is wealth they say, but some people neglect the basic hygienic rules to make money in order to earn a living. Kehinde Ajobiewe takes a lo...
“Government to train Kupferberg population” (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation)
Namibia – 25 Jan 2012 – The Prime Minister said government was also working towards offering training to the Kupferberg population. Nahas Angula believes that the solut...
“Kupferberg scavengers demand cash for work” (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation)
Namibia – 24 Jan 2012 – People scavenging at the Kupferberg dumping site outside Windhoek are demanding cash for work from government. They say the program for which go...
Tshwane: power through networking
In the 1990s the Tshwane municipality in South Africa engaged in a number of failed projects with waste pickers. These included a project that hired waste pickers to make crafts out of recyclable material. It also included at a private company with interests in waste management helping waste pickers to set up cooperatives and run buy-back centres for the cooperatives. However the positive that came out of these failures was that waste pickers formed committees on dumps and this provided the base for independent organizing. But what lessons and openings for organisation emerged in this period?
Hands in trash, heads held high
A meeting in Dakar included delegates from countries across Africa such as Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Niger, Rwanda, Congo, Togo, Burkina Faso and Chad. Participants discussed key problems such as child labour, waste pickers paying to collect waste instead of being paid, lack of knowledge of rights, lack of local government capacity to manage waste, and the privatization of waste collection.