Plastic pickers – is this the root problem?

A Grist post on plastic pickers really got me this morning. Here’s the set up and helps answer, ‘who are plastic pickers?’

an estimated 20 million people make a living by collecting discarded plastic, aluminum, and other refuse from dumpsites and landfills and selling it to recyclers. They’re called “waste pickers,” and though their work is essential — they round up nearly 60 percent of all the postconsumer plastic waste that gets collected for recycling — it is often unacknowledged, unremunerated, and underappreciated.

Grist

60% of post consumer plastic waste that gets recycled is hand-picked by plastic pickers.

While plastic pickers have been highly invisible and exploited all over the globe, things may be changing.

due to a 2022 agreement from United Nations member states to draft a legally binding treaty by 2025 to “end plastic pollution.” Thanks to advocacy from a small group of waste pickers, the treaty mandate recognized “the significant contribution made by workers in informal and cooperative settings,” using a euphemism often understood to refer to waste pickers.

Grist

Progress on this front, including plastic picker as stakeholders, has been material.

Now, four negotiating sessions later, the global plastics treaty has given waste pickers an unprecedented boost in visibility. The most recent draft of the agreement refers to waste pickers explicitly — albeit in brackets indicating the need for further discussion — and virtually every stakeholder involved has something to say about their importance in waste management and in shaping the treaty.

Grist

So … plastic pickers are being recognized, given a seat and voice at the table, but why in the hell are they needed in the first place? This is a common western culture sleight of hand. Create a massive problem – socially, humanistically and environmentally – and then get everybody focused on correcting negative outputs without changing the process that creates them. Stupid. Why can’t we focus on the root problem – eliminate plastic waste?

Photos from Grist