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The Trash Pickers
There are thousands upon thousands of trash pickers in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Most of these people are undocumented and live on a monthly income of about US$30 to US$35 per family.
Unlike valued “sanitation workers” in many other countries who have insurance, benefits, uniforms, decent salaries, vacations and enjoy social recognition, these populations are “invisible”. They create a living off our consumer habits and lack of environmental responsibility.
Although we depend on their services to continually clean our surroundings, increasing consumer appetites have put an ever growing strain on the environment. Proper recycling programs are nonexistent in much of Southeast Asia thus trash pickers look for items that can be sold for recycling to try to make a living.
XSProject looks for alternative ways to use throw-away waste materials that we can buy from Jakarta’s trash pickers that will bring new income for these people.