This initiative trains waste pickers (click here) in India to collect electronic waste, such as computers and mobile phones, for safe disposal and recycling. By recycling raw materials from discarded electronics, natural resources are conserved and air and water pollution caused by hazardous disposal is avoided. Recycling e-waste from landfills reduces methane emissions, which are 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. The initiative makes the waste pickers more resilient to poverty by providing green jobs that increase their incomes and protect them from the risks of exposure to toxins and heavy metals....
...However, these waste pickers still do not have formal recognition, equal rights, secure and safe livelihoods and dignity. And as consumption patterns change with a growing economy, their work exposes them to ever higher levels of pollution and dangerous toxins....
...Chintan, (a union) an Indian NGO, in cooperation with Delhi’s Pollution Control Committee and the city’s Department of Environment, created a partnership with Safai Sena, a registered association of waste pickers to improve collection, segregation and storage of e-waste. They then joined forces with companies in India that safely recover metals and plastics from e-waste....
