Trash pickers vulnerable to diseases, spread of infections

ISLAMABAD: A proper mechanism needs to be put in place for handling different kind of wastes and garbage, especially industrial and hospital, at overflowing trolley-sites in absence of a permanent dumping site, even after shifting of the federal capital to Islamabad from Karachi in 1960. Eventually, trash-pickers may become vulnerable to communicable diseases due to direct touch with different wastes.

Though the garbage provides a livelihood to trash-pickers but at the same time, it poses a risk of getting infected by diseases. It may indirectly lead to spread of different infections in the society.

The garbage-pickers commonly known as gypsies, can be seen on streets, roads, parks and outside of restaurants, sorting out the useful items from different size of the uncovered dumpsters. Whereas the Capital Development Authority (CDA) could not manage the handling of solid waste meaningfully and presently, it had no option but to collect the garbage from these out-pouring trash-trollies, letting the waste-pickers to sort out the valuable material out of contaminated waste containers.

Over the years, there had been the archaic style of using waste bins, placed on street corners despite, waving on different productive ideas involving waste-to-energy plant and outsourcing of the garbage to private companies for meaningful purposes.

Talking to APP, a health expert Qasim Raza feared that the trash pickers may inflict seasonal and communicable diseases like Influenza, skin allergy, diarrhoea, boil and other fatal diseases.

He said lives of wrap pickers were facing numerous challenges on different fronts ranging from biological, chemical, agronomic to physical nature, especially accidents on streets. There is no working without health, he added. Terming these gypsies a backbone of recycling sector, an economist Ubaid Ali said they played crucial role in the country’s economic progress.

There was a dire need to carry out massive awareness drive to educate such neglected segment of society about potential health risks while handling improper household disposals.