Delhi, India: Plans for a waste-to-energy plant at one of Delhi’s largest landfills could jeopardize the futures of more than 1,000 wastepickers who make their living at the site.

The Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD), which owns the Ghazipur landfill, recently announced that it intends to build a plant on the landfill site, but has not included the wastepickers in the process. Setting up a plant, which will require fencing, will amount to forced eviction of many wastepickers who live at the site, depriving them of their right to a livelihood.

Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, a partner of The Advocacy Project, has organized a public meeting on behalf of the wastepickers at 3 p.m. Oct. 15. at the landfill.

According to Chintan, the Ghazipur wastepickers want to be regarded as organized entrepreneurs and included in future plans at the landfill. They are demanding access rights to recyclable waste and a clean, safe work environment.

For several years, the wastepickers at Ghazipur have picked up the residual recyclable waste from this landfill. Unfortunately, these wastepickers get only what other wastepickers in the city have not already found – meaning they earn only about 89 rupees (about $1.85) per day on average. They also work in extremely difficult and sometimes hazardous conditions.

Currently, approximately 1,000 people earn their living at Ghazipur, with 368 people living in a slum at the foot of the landfill. The wastepickers are not recognized or helped in any way by the MCD, despite the fact that their recycling work reduces waste and extends the life of both recyclable materials and the landfill.

Chintan’s previous efforts to engage the MCD on behalf of the Ghazipur wastepickers – including a meeting with the Chief Minister in April 2008 – have so far brought little progress.