In Accra, Ghana, waste pickers struggle to clean up the city’s mountains of plastic, facing not only stigma but a battle with global industries complicit in the waste crisis.
Jess Staufenberg reports for Al Jazeera.
In short:
- Waste pickers in Accra, Ghana, like Lydia Bamfo, help manage the city’s plastic waste, though they work in dangerous conditions for minimal pay.
- Despite plastic credit schemes and international funding, waste pickers argue that efforts fail to reach the frontlines of the crisis, where workers continue to struggle with low wages and stigma.
- Efforts like those of Bamfo and her colleagues are crucial to tackling Ghana’s waste problem, as the country ranks among the largest plastic waste producers in Africa.
Key quote:
“I have headaches, bad chest pains; I struggle to breathe. I want to leave and do something else, but I don’t know how."
— Keren, daughter of waste picker and community leader Lydia Bamfo
Why this matters:
This story highlights the environmental justice dimensions and health risks posed by the global plastic waste crisis. Workers face serious health consequences from toxic waste while receiving little financial support. International initiatives, like plastic credit schemes, promise to alleviate the problem, but they often bypass the very people who are actually cleaning up the mess. The money doesn’t always trickle down, leaving these workers without decent pay or safe conditions. As the world negotiates the terms of a global plastics treaty, it's worth remembering that corporations benefit from cheap plastic production while burden of cleaning up the mess is thrust upon those least equipped to protect themselves from the health consequences.
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