Waste pickers fight for recognition in plastic treaty negotiations

It is estimated that between 20 and 34 million people work as waste pickers worldwide, playing a crucial role in recovering recyclable materials.

“We are the biggest company in the world,” Maria Soledad Mella Vidal, 54, a Chilean waste picker, told AFP.

“We don’t have money, infrastructure or machines… but we are extremely proud because our contribution to the environment is real.”

Representatives from nearly 200 countries are meeting in South Korea to agree a historic deal to reduce plastic pollution littering the planet.

Only nine percent of plastic is currently recycled worldwide.

But estimates suggest that more than half of what is recycled is recovered by waste pickers.

Johnson Doe joined the industry at age 16 in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

“There was no formal work around, so the only job to do was to be a waste picker,” he told AFP.

Every day, the 39-year-old waits for garbage trucks to arrive at a city landfill to collect recyclable materials and sell them to an intermediary.

He earns on average three dollars a day, “enough to meet his needs,” he says.

After more than two decades in the business, plastic no longer holds any secrets for him.

“We can tell,” he said, examining a plastic bottle placed in front of him and dismantling the various plastic components.

“I love this job,” he added. “But what we need is integration, respect and inclusion.”

“We should be involved”

As observers, waste pickers can participate in negotiations, but are not allowed to participate despite their direct experience of the problem.

“If there’s a discussion…we should be involved,” Doe said.

Mella Vidal, the Chilean waste picker, is also a plastic expert and wants a ban on single-use items, which is under discussion in negotiations.

She also wants a redesign of plastic products to facilitate recycling, giving the example of the paracetamol tablet she takes to fight a cold.

“It’s PS (polystyrene). It has no value on the market. And what’s more, there is a thin layer of aluminum stuck on it. It’s an eco-design problem, like yogurt pots “, she said.

Mella Vidal no longer works in landfills, which have disappeared with Chile’s new rules on sanitary landfills.

Instead, she gets up at 5 a.m. to scour the street for recyclables before the garbage trucks come by, sorting what she finds in the yard of her house.

“No machine can replace the relationship between a waste picker and the waste,” she said.

“A nail or a piece of glass can jam a sorting machine. Nothing can stop us.”

In 2022, a UN resolution recognized the contribution of waste pickers to the fight against plastic pollution, and the industry wants this to be enshrined in any agreement in Busan.

A growing movement

They say this would open the door to legal recognition of their work.

“A lot of people prejudge us. They think we are criminals or drug addicts,” Mella Vidal said.

The profession is also dangerous, exposing workers to toxic chemicals, poorly regulated work sites and even violence.

In 1992, 11 scavengers were killed in Colombia by security agents who planned to sell their corpses to a medical school.

A twelfth was able to escape and alert the police.

This crime shocked Colombia and helped galvanize a movement.

March 1, the day the massacre was discovered, is now International Waste Pickers’ Day.

About 460,000 people now belong to the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, a union whose members participate in international meetings such as the Busan negotiations.

Among their demands, better health protection given the toxic substances to which they are regularly exposed.

“We don’t get any support from the government or anyone,” Doe said.

“And that’s because we are not mentioned in policies. So if we have a legal treaty that mentions waste pickers, we will have support.”

© 2024 AFP