The Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change announced a new set of regulations on Wednesday formally recognizing independent trash collectors, the unsung and often overlooked heroes of the fight against waste. Under new regulations, each collector will be registered and given official work IDs, in a move that seeks to end illegal labor in the low-paying job lucrative for large recycling businesses only.
Each collector who works independently will be registered in “Zero Waste Information System” of the ministry. The zero waste program is at the forefront of recycling efforts and trash collectors are key actors in the practice, which requires separate disposal of each piece of garbage with different materials. As people often lump their recyclable waste with others, it is often the trash collectors sorting them out from dumpsters on every street corner. In return, they are paid a small sum by recycling businesses. Most of the collectors are people from disadvantaged communities and illegal migrants eking out a living.
The regulation asks trash collectors at the age of 18 and above to apply to their local municipality for registration. Once their application is completed, they will be issued “independent trash collector” cards. The cardholders will be the only people with authority to collect trash for recycling in the district they live and work, but they will not be authorized to do the job elsewhere. The municipalities will be tasked with supervising the working life of collectors, implementing their working standards and enforcing the rules. Municipality crews will be authorized to issue fines and cancel the permissions for people illegally collecting trash.
Each collector will be required to bring the waste they collected either to municipalities’ recycling, waste disposal facilities or waste treatment facilities registered with authorities. The government aims to track the informal business with the regulation and prevent disposal activities harmful to the environment or not contributing to recycling efforts. Data on each piece of waste collected will be registered in the online databases of the ministry.
