The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), India, authorities had been shockingly apathetic to the inhuman treatment to over 400 waste workers employed by its contractor BVG Kshitij. Almost a week ago, the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP) started a sit-in to protest for this situation.
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.
PRISM project organised a Behaviour Change Campaign (BCC) on 25 March 2013 with an objective of gathering respect and recognizing waste worker’s contributions in solid waste management sector in Nepal with a brand message “Informal Waste Workers: Deserving respect for their contribution.”
SWaCH is a collective of self-employed waste pickers that provides waste collection and management services. It publishes a quarterly newsletter. The latest has a lot of great articles!
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.
Practical Action through the PRISM (Poverty Reduction of Informal Workers in Solid Waste management Sectors) project recently organised a 15 days entrepreneur’s skill development training on recyclable waste (plastic) to female waste pickers to enhance their entrepreneurship capacity in the Kathmandu valley as most of the waste enterprises in Nepal are owned by men.
A unique day long Social Security Camp was organized for wastepickers in the city today. A little over 1000 people participated in the camp that included children and adults.
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.
Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a registered trade union of waste pickers based in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, organised an awareness programme for its members on January 2 2013, to familiarise them with RTE Act, and particularly to discuss with them how to make best use of the provisions of the 25% reservation quota for children from deprived backgrounds.
Check out SWaCH waste pickers’ cooperative November 2012 Newsletter. Read articles about waste pickers working with scrap shops, pianist Kimball Ghallager making music with SWaCH, E-waste programs in schools across India, waste pickers keeping Pune’s rivers clean, and much more. Download the SWaCH Newsletter Issue 5 in English or in Marathi.
Juliene Mangni, is one of two waste pickers from African countries participating at Expocatadores. This is her first trip outside of Benin. She is the president of an association of 366 women waste pickers in her city of Cotonou, Benin. She and the other women waste pickers sell the plastics, cans and cardboards they collect at a large market. Juliene is trying to improve the situation for the waste pickers. They lack basic equipment for waste picking. Another major issue is that the local government doesn’t acknowledge the waste pickers and provides no support.
