Came together in 2005. With new municipal rules,some municipalities have extended recognition to waste pickers. In other cases, in their haste to comply with rules have adopted methods of waste collection that have displaced waste pickers. The Alliance demands: waste pickers to be integrated into systems of door to door collection: measures should be taken to enhance and expand livelihoods and employment: provision for social security should be made in budgets of urban Local governments and state governments.
The Alliance of Indian Wastepickers is more than a decade old national coalition of organizations working with waste-pickers and other informal waste collectors. The alliance was created to have coordinated efforts to ensure the inclusion of waste pickers in various national-level programmes. Organizations/members of the alliance represent more than 40000 waste-pickers and other informal waste-pickers in India. Secretariat of the alliance has been rotating amongst member organizations starting from Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), Pune. After that, Bangalore based organization of wastepickers- Hasiru Dala hosted the secretariat for 3 years. Currently, the Secretariat of the coalition is hosted by Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Mumbai. From April 2019, Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre (DBRC) will be hosting the secretariat of the Alliance.
Our Work
- Policy analysis and recommending policy measures to all levels of governments- Union, state and urban and rural local governments, different departments within each level of three-tier governments, for the inclusion of waste pickers and informal waste collectors in solid waste management and social protection measures.
- Capacity building of member organizations and municipal authorities to facilitate the integration of waste-pickers by undertaking training sessions on social entitlements, financial literacy, organic and dry waste management.
- Research focusing on waste management techniques, informal waste chains and status of waste-pickers and informal waste collectors.
- Awareness generation about the role played by waste-pickers and informal waste collectors in keeping the cities clean, mitigating climate change and contributing to manufacturing. In other words, waste-pickers and informal waste collectors are an important link between Swachh Bharat, India’s commitments for mitigating climate change and Make in India.
- Helping member organizations to strengthen themselves by providing a networking platform to learn from each other.
