GS Paper III
News Excerpt:
Formalising and integrating waste pickers into the municipal waste management system is not only a matter of social justice but also environmental necessity.
The Essential Role of Waste Pickers in Environmental Sustainability:
- Waste pickers navigate through the landscape of waste generation, segregation, and recycling, playing a crucial role in mitigating the environmental impact of our consumption patterns.
- Waste pickers are the backbone of urban waste management, significantly reducing the burden on landfills, mitigating pollution, and keeping cities clean.
- Waste pickers recycle approximately 20-25% of the 10,000 metric tonnes of waste generated daily in Delhi, reducing methane emissions and promoting resource conservation.
- Their efforts in recycling and composting contribute to energy savings, carbon footprint reduction, and enhanced soil health and agricultural productivity.
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- By promoting recycling and composting, waste pickers help conserve energy, raw materials, and reduce carbon emissions.
- Waste pickers play a crucial role in the informal recycling of e-waste, preventing environmental contamination and health hazards.
- Waste picking provides livelihood opportunities to marginalized individuals, particularly migrants from rural areas, promoting social inclusion and economic empowerment.
Challenges in Urban Waste Management and Waste Picker Contributions:
- Urban centers face significant waste generation due to burgeoning populations and rapid urbanization, leading to environmental and health hazards.
- Cities generate a staggering amount of solid waste daily, posing significant environmental and health hazards if not managed effectively.
- Delhi, with a population of 35 million, generates approximately 11,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily, with over half ending up in landfills.
- Hazardous waste production surged in Delhi from 2018-19 to 2021-22, significantly exceeding authorized limits.
- Waste pickers contribute to significant savings for cities in terms of waste management costs, despite the challenges posed by increasing waste generation.
Recognition and Integration of Waste Pickers:
- The current waste management system often overlooks waste pickers' contributions, highlighting the crucial need for their formal integration into municipal waste management frameworks.
- This integration is not only imperative for social justice but also essential for advancing environmental sustainability.
- Empowering waste pickers with recognition, support, and resources enhances their role in building a sustainable waste management system.
- Educating communities on waste segregation complements their efforts, fostering efficiency.
- Amplifying the voices of waste pickers and advocating for their rights and dignity can foster a world where environmental stewardship is truly inclusive and equitable.
Overall Environmental Impact and Importance of Waste Pickers:
- Waste pickers not only mitigate the environmental impact of consumption patterns but also exemplify resilience and resourcefulness.
- On World Environment Day, it's crucial to recognize waste pickers' invaluable contributions to environmental sustainability amid harmful consumption and disposal practices.
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World Environment Day
- It is held annually on 5 June, brings together millions of people from across the globe, engaging them in the effort to protect and restore the Earth.
- World Environment Day is a global platform for inspiring positive change. People from more than 150 countries participate in this United Nations international day, which celebrates environmental action and the power of governments, businesses and individuals to create a more sustainable world.
- The event has been led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since its inception in 1973. In 2024, World Environment Day is being hosted by Saudi Arabia, with a focus on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience.
- World Environment Day puts a global spotlight on the pressing environmental challenges of our times.
- This UN international day has become the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet.
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Challenges faced by Child Waste Pickers:
Exposure to Hazardous Waste:
- Contamination from fecal material, biological pathogens, parasites, and bacteria
- Exposure to hospital waste, including used syringes, dressings, discarded medicines, and body parts
- Exposure to industrial waste containing toxic materials and heavy metals
- Food poisoning and gastro-enteric problems from consuming edible materials in the waste
Physical Risks:
- Cuts from sharp objects, leading to infections like tetanus
- Muscular/skeletal problems from carrying heavy loads over long distances.
- Dog bites and the associated threat of rabies.
- Burns and smoke inhalation from fires at dumpsites or in roadside bins
- Environmental Hazards:
- Flooding during wet seasons, leading to contamination from fecal materials
- Health problems due to climatic extremes
Unique Risks for Children:
- Lack of judgment, experience, and knowledge, leading to greater risk of occupational hazards and injuries
- Faster breathing rate, making them more vulnerable to airborne hazards
- Thinner skin, increasing vulnerability to chemical absorption and burns
- Soft bones, making them more susceptible to skeletal problems from carrying heavy loads
- Greater potential for chronic exposure due to starting work at an early age
- Detrimental effects on personality development and lack of opportunities for formal education.
Psychosocial Hazards:
- Sexual harassment, particularly for female child workers
- Harassment and exploitation from authorities, residents, and other waste pickers
- Stigma and lack of access to education and developmental opportunity
The Waste Picker Welfare Law:
- The need of the hour is the creation of a waste picker welfare law that recognises waste picking as a genuine profession and ensures that the rights and needs of waste pickers are recognised and addressed as legal obligations, instead of state largess. A law would also considerably aid to reduce the insecurity and stigma associated with waste picking:
- The mandatory provision of identification cards that acknowledges the right of waste pickers to access, collect and sell waste in the country;
- The mandatory provision of subsidised waste picking gear, including shoes with metal plated soles, gloves, protective and sorting tools through a public distribution system;
- The creation of a nodal body under the aegis of the department of labour for all matters pertaining to the rights and welfare of waste pickers;
- The creation of waste picker member-based organisations (MBOs). Waste picker MBOs are essentially a means for waste pickers to exercise their collective agency to advocate for their rights and for the creation of positive political traction. Some successful initiatives in this regard include Hasiru Dala in Bengaluru, SWaCH in Pune and SEWA in Gujarat;
- Inclusion of waste pickers in all social welfare schemes and the creation of a cooperative bank for marginalised workers on the lines of the Brazilian Bank for Economic and Social Development for subsidised credit facilities; and,
- Making bidding unnecessary for waste picker MBOs with regards to solid waste management contracts. Such a law will guarantee waste pickers social and labour protection as well as skill development opportunities, and more importantly, a positive regulatory framework under which they can happily work
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