Waste Pickers: We Cannot Make Ends Meet Only with Food Aid

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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According to the figures shared by the Street Waste Collectors' Association, there are over 8,000 waste pickers only in the capital city of Ankara.

Commenting on the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality's recent decision to ban waste picking as part of coronavirus measures, waste pickers say that even though they approve the decision of the municipality, they still express concerns that it will condemn them to hunger. Waste collectors are now waiting for help from the government.

In its related decision, Ankara Municiaplity has also announced that the ones who collect waste in the capital for a living will be accomodated in shelters and they will be provided with food.

'If we stay home, we cannot make ends meet'

Street Waste Collectors' Association Chair Recep Kahraman says that the decision of the municipality is not enough in itself.

"If we lock ourselves in houses, our chances of staying alive will drop to zero," Karaman tells bianet and adds:

"The Municipality has announced that, as a coronavirus measure, it will give us food aid, our homes will be disinfected and the ones who do not have a home will be accommodated in the shelter facilities of the municipality. They will also give food aid within this context.

"It will be a solution to our problems, albeit a tiny one; however, it is not a solution in itself. We are people who live on a day-to-day basis and make ends meet on a day-to-day basis. We have our rents and invoices to pay. We will no chance of making ends meet or surviving with food aid to be granted to us.

"We are one of the most risky groups, we know that. We are in garbage on the streets. But the main reason why we do this job is that we and our families can only make a living by doing this.

'If we don't work, workers also lose their jobs'

"If we don't work for a day, we cannot find bread the next day. We cannot sustain our lives without working, we cannot make ends meet. We are people who bring enormous benefit to the economy.

"If we don't work on the streets today, thousands of workers working in recycling industry might be unemployed, their factories might be closed.

'We should be in government's economy package'

"Because we bring the waste that we collect to recycling. Hundreds of thousands of people make a living by processing this waste there. The government can, at least, give us aid in cash.

"We can be, at least, put in the Economic Stability Shield Package unveiled by President Erdoğan or in a new package to be announced. We are hopeful for that. If we lock ourselves in houses, if we cannot go out to work and if we are not given the necessary aid, our chances of living will indeed drop to zero. We are expecting the government to extend a helping hand to us." (HA/SD)