Certain municipal councils regard individuals involved in collecting recyclables as a nuisance and sometimes the general public view these groups as “mentally challenged or socially unfit”.
Their struggles were shared by the Pacific Recycling Foundation founder Amitesh Deo at the recent Global Recycling Day celebrations in Nadi.
“The work done by these individuals in collecting recyclables from our environments such as dumpsites, landfill, streets and general public areas continue to be disregarded and unappreciated,” Mr Deo said.
“Many individuals engaged in waste picking continue to live their tremors.
“We operate on the principles of do no harm and while we encourage changes in the waste management space, our plea to everyone is to ensure that changes have a positive impact on those attached to the industry such as us recycling advocates, the vulnerable groups, in particular, the women, members of the LGBTIQ++ groups and men involved in waste picking and our environment.”
Mr Deo said there are several hundred individuals engaged in waste picking in Fiji yet there was continuous failure by many to understand the important work those involved in waste picking do every day of their lives.
He informed stakeholders and passionate environmentalist that there was also a failure by society to realise that many individuals in this space have gone through or are still going through some form of tremor or difficulty in life.
“Many of us have read about how our Prime Minister, at a point in his life where injustice had been done, had resorted to collecting used plastic bottles.
“I remember when this article was first published, there were a lot of emotions shared by people in our movement as we finally had a leader who was able to talk about this experience and not be embarrassed.
“Through this movement building, we also act as a voice for those involved in waste picking, the individuals and groups commonly known as informal waste pickers, but here locally, we know them as Collection Pillars of Recycling.”
