Informal waste pickers in the spotlight: BBC Media Action concludes ‘Coffee with Recyclers’ campus activations

Bengaluru: The gathering of hundreds of bright and social-media savvy students from Christ University on August 11, marked the conclusion of the ‘Coffee with Recyclers’ activation, an initiative by BBC Media Action running in the city as part of the #Invaluables campaign.

The activation events featured conversations with the informal waste pickers of Bengaluru about their lives, families, hobbies, education, children, and their aspirations – aspects of waste pickers’ lives that go unnoticed by the public.

These conversations were hosted by popularKannada actor and influencer, Bhoomi Shetty.

The #Invaluables is a campaign designed by BBC Media Action as part of Saamuhika Shakti, a first-of-its-kind collaborative in the country, where eight implementing organisations have joined forces to enable informal waste pickers to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives.

Recognition and respect for waste pickers and the value of waste picking were identified as one of the key objectivesof Saamuhika Shakti for waste pickers to experience greater social acceptance.

Through the ‘Coffeewith Recyclers’ activations, the #Invaluables initiative aims to shift perceptions about waste pickingand informal waste pickers in the city of Bengaluru by bringing their crucial contributions to theforefront.

The Coffee with Recyclers event featured an art installation replicating a landfill.

Created by fiveinformal waste pickers over a period of six days, this artwork used more than 30 kilograms ofrecyclable waste.

It highlighted the amount of waste kept away from landfills by the city’s informal waste pickers through their picking, sorting and recycling – a service provided by city’s #InvaluableRecyclers.

An augmented reality (AR) filter created by BBC Media Action, let students teleport the landfill artinstallation onto their phones and they get to know that informal waste pickers contribute to thecity and its environment by saving 383,250 tonnes of waste from going into landfills every year.

In collaboration with Christ University’ Ecolectic Club, the conclusion of ‘Coffee with Recyclers’ atthe campus was an attempt to spark conversations in Bengaluru about the informal waste pickers,their contributions to society and the challenge they face due to social stigma and lack of access toequitable opportunities.

The initiative saw participation by more than 900 students across Christ University and other colleges.

Recently, as part of the #Invaluables initiative, BBC Media Action also collaborated with ShraddhaJain, AKA Aiyyo Shraddha to create a video to educates peopleabout proper waste disposal, that could make picking and recycling waste a lot simpler and safer forinformal waste pickers.

Titled “Eh Whattya!” the viral video, set a benchmark in creating contentwith social purpose, with a whopping 9.3 million views, making it one of Shraddha’s most viewedvideos of all time.

–IANS