Poor pickings: the dangers of waste collection in developing countries

Waste-picking is a survival strategy for up to three per cent of the total urban workforce in developing countries. It brings low pay and significant health hazards. A report from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine argues that waste-pickers should be recognised for the positive environmental work they do and protected from the risks they face from hazardous waste.

Many thousands of children, adolescents and women in developing countries collect and sort recyclable solid waste from roadsides, bins and dumpsites. This waste comes from household, commercial, institutional and industrial sources. The profits of this sector usually benefit the wholesale buyers of recyclable materials and those involved in their recycling. Meanwhile workers live in poverty and have a limited choice of alternative employment.

The report reviews the available information on the health hazards of waste picking for children and adolescents. All the studies analysed had a small sample size and so none found a statistically significant link between waste picking and illness. However, they did identify a number of health risks facing waste-pickers. These fall into three main categories:

• direct - including faecal-oral contamination, cuts and infections, burns and skin disorders, worm infections and diarrhoea
• direct environmental - including animal bites, exposure to flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes, rats and other animals carrying diseases, risk from traffic, dumpsite collapses, air, water and soil contamination by waste
• indirect environmental - including weather conditions, harassment, social stigma, impact on education and development, reduced marriage prospects, poor hygiene.

There is an important current debate about whether children and adolescents should be involved in this work at all. In the meantime, the risks they face can be reduced by:

• improving control of solid waste at source, including safe removal and disposal of hazardous waste
• developing transport systems that better contain solid waste materials and avoid heavy faecal contamination
• disinfecting solid waste
• distributing protective equipment such as gloves, footwear and tools
• immunising workers against tetanus
• providing better living and working conditions for waste-pickers.

A longer-term goal is to address the status of waste pickers. This could be achieved by marrying the positive green image of recycling with the almost hidden image of the people who undertake this work.

Source(s):
'A review of the health hazards associated with the occupation of waste picking for children', International Journal of Adolescent Medical Health 13 (3): 177-189, by C. Hunt, 2001
related sources: 'Survival strategy for women in Indian cities', Urbanisation and Environment 6 (2), by M. Huysman, 1994
'Dilemmas in tackling child labour: the case of scavenger children in the Philippines', International Labour Review 131 (6), by S.E. Gunn & Z. Ostos, 1992

id21 Research Highlight: 29 October 2002

Further Information:
Caroline Hunt,
Disease Control and Vector Biology Unit
Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street
London WC1E 7HT
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7927 2440
Fax: +44 (0)20 7636 7943
Contact the contributor: caroline.hunt@lshtm.ac.uk

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Other related links:
See id21's collection of links relevant to environmental health.

See id21's collection of links relevant to maternal and child health.