The Clean Development Mechanism is poised to approve a proposal already stopped by the local community and the state government.

Durban, December 5, 2011 – Waste pickers attending COP17 today called for a Green Climate Fund with direct community access and an end to CDM “waste-to-energy” projects. Representatives from three continents highlighted the fact that waste pickers are the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the waste sector.

Delhi protesters demand cancellation of the Okhla incinerator and a stop to CDM credits for incinerators, which strip waste pickers of their livelihoods and increase pollution.

Latin America, September 2011. The Network of Recyclers, Red Sealing Wax, is a representative and inclusive organization of labor movements that group Recyclers 15 countries in the region. As organized base Recyclers, adhere to the Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration and, and alerted the authorities of our countries for damages associated with the implementation and prioritization of projects incineration and landfills.

30 September 2011, Quezon City, Philippines. Citizens’ groups across the globe are pressing governments to direct scarce financial resources to support community-led, job-generating and climate-friendly solutions to waste and toxic pollution, not to polluting incinerators and landfills.

Cancun, Mexico. December 2, 2010. The Global Alliance of Wastepickers and Allies, through its representatives from Latin America, South Africa, and India, is in Cancun to speak out against Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects that fund waste incinerators and landfills, causing the displacement of recyclers and their undeniable and historic contribution to greenhouse gas mitigation.

November 30, Chennai, India. As the world’s environment ministers convene a UN meeting in Mexico to address climate change, leaders of the Alliance of Indian Wastepickers (AIW) gathered in Chennai to offer their own solution to climate change and decry false solutions such as “waste-to-energy”. The leaders warned that two such “Refuse Derived Fuel” (RDF) plants are proposed for Chennai; if implemented, these plants would displace wastepickers, thus reducing recycling, increasing unemployment and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, all while adding costs to the public. They warned that these plants are part of a national trend towards privatising waste management, resulting in higher costs, loss of livelihoods, and worse environmental outcomes. Ministers should instead look to the wastepickers to solve problems of waste and climate change.

Tianjin (China), 6 October 2010. Speaking at the United Nations negotiations on climate change, leaders of wastepicker organizations denounced waste-to-energy technologies and demanded recognition and financial support for their contribution to fighting climate change.

4 October 2010, Quezon City. As government representatives converge in Tianjin, China for a crucial week-long climate meeting starting today, an environmental health and justice alliance urged negotiators from the Philippines and elsewhere to acknowledge the huge climate and livelihood benefits of recycling, and to recognize and respect informal recyclers. The Tianjin climate change conference is the last leg of negotiations before the final summit in Cancun, Mexico in November 2010.

Copenhagen, 7 December 2009 – Fifteen million people worldwide make a living from waste picking. They collect, sort, clean and in some cases, process these recyclables, returning them to industry as an inexpensive and low-carbon raw material. Wastepickers are incredibly efficient recyclers – and can achieve recycling rates higher than 80%. Their recycling work reduces emissions up to 25 times more than incineration does. Wastepickers significantly reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions through recycling rates, and could further reduce emissions given proper support.

3 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark. As the world’s governments convene here in Copenhagen to solve the unfolding climate crisis, polluting industries are putting up a fight. The incinerator industry, one of the world’s dirtiest, is trying to repackage itself as a “climate solution” in order to grab climate subsidies meant to support the development of clean technologies.

09 June 2009. Bonn, Germany: The Clean Development Mechanism’s waste projects undermine the livelihoods of poor people and increase greenhouse gas emissions, say a group of grassroots recyclers attending the United Nations climate change negotiations.