proud informal waste pickers
Rag pickers are thousands of those informal waste pickers don't even get a mention while policymakers draft the policies. They spend their day collecting waste at great risk so that our cities, our houses remain clean and waste free. No denial of the argument that they earn out of it, but fact of the matter remains that we can channelize this ecosystem and will be a win-win situation for them, the govt and the biggest beneficiary will be our environment ..means all of us. They will be part of our economy and can easily be covered under any social security net. Workshops can be organised to train them how to classify and collect the waste for a proper and sustainable recycling. This will give them access to the constant source of income and earn them respect that they usually don't have now.
Our pollution levels, garbage on the streets has impacted all of us. Majority of our workforce is made up of the informal sector, and they are the ones who make cities run by selling food, building homes, caring for children, collecting and recycling waste and keeping our houses and vicinity clean. It seems government is already thinking about some of these people from informal sectors but more can be done and should be done.
Primarily waste is
collected by ragpickers and these services are more
essential than ever after classification of waste and how to recycle it without environmental hazards. They keep our country clean,keep our waste cycle sustainable and streets
waste-free. By creating an ecosystem our govt can ensure skies clear of pollution from burning garbage and save us from epidemics being disease-free.
Thinking about medical waste and it's disposal they collect medical waste unknowingly often with a great risk to life, most of them spend days without work and wages. They have families with children not having access to even formal education at times and we as a society must address issues related to them. To start with Rs 1500 monthly can be given to every
informal waste picker family by the govt to support education of their children and hand gloves, masks and jacket to save them from any chemical or virus hazard.
We at VGSS believe that they will be a big asset at grassroots with our asha workers in case any epidemic strikes. The UN has said that waste management is an essential service and hopefully, we should take this seriously as we all are aware about it.
