BENGALURU: At Hasiru Habba (Green Festival) 2025, more than 1,500 waste pickers gathered to celebrate their role as invisible climate warriors and to demand concrete policy support for their contributions to waste management and environmental sustainability, here on Tuesday.
Organised by Hasiru Dala, the event marked World Environment Day by highlighting how Karnataka’s 4.23 lakh waste pickers, many of them Dalits, Adivasis, and women, power the circular economy. Their work — collecting, sorting, and processing waste — diverts thousands of tonnes of recyclable material from landfills annually. In Bengaluru alone, over 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste are processed by the informal sector each month, according to Hasiru Dala data.
Despite this, most waste pickers remain outside formal systems. A staggering 95% lack health insurance, and more than half live without basic infrastructure like electricity, toilets, or drinking water, a press release stated.
According to the press release, the community laid out demands aimed at integrating waste pickers into climate and urban policy frameworks. Key demands included the establishment of Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) in tier-2 cities, three-way waste segregation with pickers involved in sorting, and the creation of safe, well-equipped recycling hubs.
Leelavathi, Organising Secretary of Women's Voice, said, "We need to strengthen ourselves. We don't have representation from the governments and we demand that. We demand education and our rights.”