As diplomats negotiate behind closed doors in the South Korean city of Busan a treaty to curb plastic pollution, the garbage collectors on the front lines of the problem are fighting for recognition.

Between 20 and 34 million people are believed to work as waste pickers worldwide, playing a vital role in recovering recyclables.

“We are the biggest company in the world,” 54-year-old Maria Soledad Mella Vidal, a Chilean garbage collector, told the French news agency AFP.

“We don’t have money, infrastructure or machines… but we are extremely proud because our contribution to environment is real.”

Representatives of almost 200 nations are gathered South Korea to agree a landmark deal to curb plastic pollution littering the planet.

Only nine percent of plastic is currently recycled globally.

But estimates suggest that over half of what is recycled is recycled by waste pickers.

Johnson Doe joined the sector at 16 inches Ghanacapital Accra.

“There was no formal job around, so the only work to do was to be a garbage collector,” he told AFP.

Every day, the 39-year-old waits for garbage trucks to arrive at one of the city’s dumpsites so he can collect recyclables to sell to a middleman.

He earns three dollars a day on average, “enough to support myself,” he said.

After more than two decades in the job, plastic no longer holds any secrets from him.

Read more at RFI English

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