For two decades, development agencies, non-governmental organizations and academics have examined and recorded the contributions of waste pickers. Specialists and activists are now calling for an end to repressive policies on waste picking. They advocate the adoption of inclusive policies focused on legal recognition of waste pickers and their organizations, guaranteed access to waste for waste pickers, integration of waste pickers through their organizations into solid waste management systems, and the strengthening of membership-based waste picker organizations.

Statistical Definition

This  statistical definition of home-based workers was developed by the Independent Group on Home-Based Workers in India, set up in 2007 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of the Government of India.

Home-based workers are defined as a) own-account workers and contributing family workers helping the own-account workers, involved in the production of goods and services, in their homes, for the market and b) workers carrying out work in their homes for remuneration, resulting in a product or service as specified by th

This summarizes findings from several recent sets of country-level data analyses that considered the average earnings and/or the poverty risk of different segments of the labour force, both formal and informal.