INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WASTE PICKERS

The International Alliance of Waste Pickers is a union of waste picker organizations representing more than 460,000 workers across 34 countries
Supported by Logo WIEGO
UN Plastic treaty

UN Plastic Treaty

Active participation in the UN global treaty that tackles plastic pollution.

Where are we?

Provisional list of hundreds of waste pickers’ groups around the globe.


News from Waste Pickers around the world


Organizing

International Waste Picker Day 2024 flyer.

International Waste Pickers Day 2024

Waste pickers from around the world gather on March 1st to commemorate International Waste Pickers Day, ahead of their formalizing as an international union. Waste pickers gather o...

Empowering India’s Waste Pickers: Nationwide Campaign Seeks Rights Recognition on International Waste Pickers Day

1st March is celebrated as International Waste Pickers Day in memory of the massacre in Colombia in which 11 workers were brutally killed at the University of Barranquilla. For the...
Group photo of the Asia Pacific region of IAWP.

Asia Pacific Waste Pickers Organise: Historic Meeting in Kathmandu Addresses Threats, Elects Leaders, and Prepares for Global Congress

The International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) is hosting its first-ever coordination meeting with waste picker organizations from across the Asia Pacific region, to address th...

Chile Recyclers in State of Emerency

Donate now to help recyclers’ families whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the forest fires in the Valparaíso region. Ver versión en Español Serious forest fires have kil...
IAWP participated at the International Trade Union School

IAWP affiliates were part of Global Labour School

The IAWP joined a Global Labour University event in Paris with delegates from 28 countries discussing union history, worker organization, feminism, and environmental issues to promote global solidarity.


Threats

Dry waste centre and the basis of our livelihood have been destroyed

The Dry Waste Collection Centre (DWCC) in ward 177, JP Nagar (India), was set on fire on 20th May 2023. The centre is run by Kumuda, a former waste picker who put her own money int...

Recyclers demand respect and continuity of work in Cerro Patacón

Members of the National Movement of Recyclers of Panama (MNRP) marched on Thursday, March 23, to the vicinity of the Presidency of the Republic, located in San Felipe. The recycler...

The International Alliance of Waste Pickers at COP27 – Egypt

  With the support of GAIA and WIEGO, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers will be participating in the COP27 in Egypt. The delegation will be in Sharm El Sheikh from the 1...

Waste picker shelters burned in Bantar Gebang Landfill (Indonesia)

On March 15, at 2pm Indonesia time, shelters of members of Ikatan Pemulung Indonesia (Indonesia Waste-pickers Union – IPI) were burned near Bantar Gebang Landfill (in Bekasi,...

Fire outbreak in waste picker homes in Ghana

On March 16, 15 waste pickers in Ghana at Kpone landfill lost their properties due to a fire outbreak at their quarters that started during the night. Their homes, where they lived...


Publications

The International Alliance of Waste Pickers was featured on this documentary of Bussiness insider.

Waste pickers feature in documentary about forming IAWP

International Alliance of Waste Pickers’s Acting General Secretary, Lucia Fernández has featured in an Insider Business documentary exploring the essential role waste pickers pl...
Front page of the the report "Waste Pickers- The Missing Piece in India’s EPR Puzzle"

Waste Pickers, the Missing Piece in India’s EPR Puzzle

The Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers (AIW) has released new research into Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and the impacts it has on Indian waste pickers.  Haris Najib, the...

RedLacre at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

WIEGO and the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Waste Pickers (RedLacre) will denounce in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the situation of the rights o...

MNCR leader Alex Cardoso launches his book: Do Lixo a Bixo

The waste picker Alex Cardoso promoted the launching of his book, together with other waste pickers connected to the National Movement of Waste Pickers (MNCR) in Brazil. “Do lixo...

Podcast on Reclaimers in South Africa

In this podcast published by New Frame they interview Kopano Mokoena, Thando Nkalaand Eva Mokoena, reclaimers of Johannesburg, South Africa. They also interview Federico Parra (WIE...