Waste pickers: Unlawful occupiers or vulnerable workers?

Abstract

This article discusses how a waste picker's rights to human dignity as well as to work and an ability to earn a livelihood are inextricably linked together. When an individual's property rights threaten a vulnerable worker's ability to earn a livelihood, such rights must be weighed against each other and evaluated in context. A private landowner is expected to accept a certain limitation of property rights when a vulnerable person's ability to work, and therefore right to human dignity, is in the balance. Waste pickers are vulnerable members of society, and existing rights, such as the ability to access landfills -which, in turn, affords the right to earn a livelihood - should be protected. Not protecting waste pickers' right to work and ability to earn a livelihood undervalues their labour despite the contribution it makes to limiting the negative environmental effects of waste.