Earth Equity News

Waste Pickers Speak Out. By Karl Malakunas, AFP, 10//8/10. “Maya Khodave normally spends her days rummaging through rubbish dumps in a crowded Indian city but last week she was in China to offer herself as part of the solution to tackling global warming. Dressed in a colorful sari, the slightly built 23-year-old has dazzled amid a wall of dark-suited negotiators at United Nations climate change talks while trying to raise awareness about the value of waste pickers around the world. ‘We play a very important role in the environment, yet our work is not recognized,’ Khodave told reporters on the sidelines of the event in Tianjin, her voice strong and loud but tears occasionally welling in her eyes. There are about 15 million people in cities across the developing world who survive by collecting rubbish, according to the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), a non-government organization that brought Khodave to China. People such as Khodave can play an important role in combating climate change because they cheaply and efficiently gather materials such as paper, metal and organic waste, then sort them and send them off for recycling.”