Worrying times for the world’s waste-pickers
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Suchita Sabre was only 10 years old when she started sifting through waste – thrown away by urbanites in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai – to find recyclable items which would get her a few pennies in the market.
It would mean a contribution on her part to the livelihood of the family, all of whom depended on the waste trade.
Sorting through the waste later became a full-time profession for her, as it had been for her parents, even after her marriage.
Today she sorts waste no more. But she remains a sympathizer with hundreds of thousands of waste-pickers who find their livelihoods threatened as the practice of burning waste in incinerators picks up across India.
“I don’t love picking up waste from other people’s houses. Nor do I want my fellow community members to do it. But it has been a traditional profession for us marginalized people”, she says.
She is now a member of an alliance of 3,000 women in Mumbai who have gathered together to spread awareness among the women of their community that they should send their children to school.
“The lack of education in our community is a major problem for us. We are not able to send our children to school because of lack of resources. Families of waste-pickers hardly manage to live a hand-to-mouth existence”, Suchita says.
She has a success story to share while spreading awareness among the women of her community. She has toiled hard in order to educate her son and has realized that dream.
“I worked hard day and night to make sure that my son gets education. I felt quite satisfied when he completed his graduation and he is now working as a salesman in a furniture company”, she explains.
“We visit the waste-pickers’ families and tell the women that they should send their kids to school. We particularly urge them not ignore their daughters’ education”, she said. They have now started getting a response from the families.
Suchita was one of a five-member team of waste-pickers from India whose trip to the UN Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009 was sponsored by an Indian non-governmental organization, Stree Mukhti Sangatana (Women’s Liberation Organisation).
It wanted them to have the chance to hammer home their point in the Danish capital as world leaders held negotiations on tackling climate change.
They held demonstrations asking for recognition of the waste-pickers’ work in mitigating climate change. “Let us recycle… give us recognition”, they urged.
“We demand that the waste should not be burnt, but should be segregated for recycling and making compost”, Suchita said.
Waste-pickers in India collect all kinds of waste from homes like plastic, aluminium, glass, rubber and paper, making recycling possible and earning a livelihood in the process.
“As environmental awareness has grown, waste-pickers are no longer looked down on as in the past”, said Jyoti Mhapsekar of Stree Mukti Sanghatana.
“But what is more concerning is the government’s response to these people who have been scavenging waste from the streets for decades.”
She said the incentives provided by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol encourage governments to build incinerators.
“This not only causes waste-pickers to lose their jobs but also increases greenhouse gas emissions, exactly the opposite of the intended effect of the CDM”, she said.
Jyoti says that recycling and turning the garbage into compost is one of the cheapest, quickest and easiest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and to provide a livelihood to poor people.
“Recycling has major economic benefits as it employs at least 10 million people in developing countries. There are more than 100,000 waste-pickers in the Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Pune alone”, she said, and their jobs should be recognized by government.
