Cape Town – Waste pickers – also known as reclaimers – need social protection, access to water and sanitation, provision of protective gear as well as training to ensure that they have continued access to their livelihood safely and securely, the Department of Social Developmen’s Covid-19 Rapid Needs Assessment Report has found.
The report, launched by Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu at the weekend, found this sector had been severely affected by the Covid-19 crisis, partly due to fear of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed, and partly due to community ostracisation of such persons.
“A large number of people in South Africa, including women and children, survive on the collection of waste materials and rag picking.
“With the majority of the entire workforce of reclaimers, an estimated 60 000 to 90 000 people, who form some of the most economically disadvantaged people in the country, are unemployed.
“In addition to this economic disadvantage, the persons who undertake this work may also be faced with social ostracism,” the assessment stated.
Considering that a large proportion of those who work in waste picking are migrants, the prejudice and abuse that they faced was only exacerbated in the Covid-19 situation and they were not included in, and could not access, the social grant system.
The report also found humanitarian support to pickers in this situation by some organisations was neither sustainable nor comprehensive.
Furthermore, health-care-generated waste was also a concern with informal pickers “rescuing” used masks from the waste stream, washing and reusing them in informal settlements, the report said.
In 2017, the average daily healthcare waste generated in South Africa was 133 559 kg/day.
“The risk is that incorrect disposal of Covid-19 medical wastes due to the overburdening of the existing waste management infrastructure may increase the potential for cross-contamination and may lead to collection and illicit recycling of used PPE such as masks into the marketplace,” the report found.
The assessment report recommended training waste management staff with adequate training and providing temporary financial support to those in the waste recycling sector who had lost their livelihoods.
The estimated figure for intervention was 159 645 304, which includes creating additional capacity for 15 health-care risk waste HRCW (licensed) facilities, livelihood support for 90 000 waste pickers and those involved in informal waste management for six months, and the provision of personal protective equipment for 90 000 waste pickers and those involved in informal waste management and more.
Cape Times