By Laila Gharib
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The phenomenon of garbage picking expands in Syria, as the situation of extreme poverty increases in the country where a whole generation of children has been exposed to everything that threatens their future, such as being deprived of education, and engaging in dangerous activities, and exploitation, in order to secure their daily’s livelihoods.
The scenes of children searching in the garbage containers are no longer sporadic and frequent, but it is possible to see them near or inside every garbage container and in every street, as this phenomenon turned into a career.
Why do police pursue waste pickers?
None of the children wants to talk, but they are wary of anyone who close to them, not only out of a sense of shame from that career, but because police patrols chase them. “Every day we have an adventure with the police,” one of the children told North Press, as he walks quickly as he is fleeing, before making sure that there is no danger in talking.
“My friend and I slept one day at the police station,” before my friend’s father came and got us out,” he said. “I don’t know what they want from us, what are we doing that hurts them? We are hurting ourselves, and they should leave us alone, why do they pursue people to the garbage container?” he wonders.
The child collects everything that can be recycled, such as cardboard, plastic, or anything else that may have some benefit, and sells what he finds to a merchant who has a shop near the garbage dump in Zablatani area in Damascus.
His colleague in work joins the conversation and says that searching in the garbage in the dump is more useful, because the quantities there are larger. Here we get tired a lot to get something that may have value, and we have to carry it in bags on our backs for long distances.
He explains that there are those who rely on small carts or even cars for those responsible for employing some children regarding this career, but the municipality confiscates those tools whenever it finds them, as well as confiscating what they collect including bottles or plastic materials.
Before deciding to leave school, he used to go for garbage picking after his going to school. He failed to pass the examination of grade nine and decided to quit studying.
“I tried everything. I worked at a factory and a restaurant until my friends told me to work with them,” he told North Press. He smiled and continued his speech saying, “It’s a good career and does not require capital, just a little fatigue,” then he pointed to his dirty clothes and said, “but it is a dirty career”.
Confiscation and fine
Law No. 49 of 2004, related to “public cleanliness affairs and preserving the aesthetic appearance of the city”, prohibits “garbage picking in containers and baskets of shops”. Based on the law, a fine ranging from 1,000 Syrian pounds (SYP) to 3,000 SYP (about $0.25) is imposed for waste picking.
Police patrols pursue those who pick garbage and their employers and confiscate any equipment or tools used in that regard.
A source in the capital city of Damascus told North Press that the law dates back to 2004, and the country’s conditions at that time were completely different from the current situation, despite the phenomenon of garbage pickers was always present, it was not so widespread. Therefore, the law dealt with the phenomenon because it affects the aesthetic appearance of cities, as well as it has great psychological and social effects on those who practice it. Thus, the law did not consider this phenomenon as a career.
The source pointed out that one of the municipalities tasks is to apply laws that related to their field. Therefore, city councils run patrols to carry out campaigns against those who do this act.
Indeed, cars and small transport carts were confiscated in addition to other materials, because all of that are extrajudicial acts. Another violation is added to that is exploiting children in this phenomenon as most of those who pick containers are under 17 years old. Often a group of those work for a merchant who agrees with them to buy what they collect for a sum of money that may not exceed 15,000 SYP (about $1) per day.
He also points out the existence of waste recycling centers, some of which are close to the surroundings of the main garbage dump. So, the governorate committee carries out successive campaigns on those centers, with the support of the Ministry of Interior Affairs because that act is illegal, and those who have been arrested are referred to the competent judiciary.
The source estimates the quantity of waste in Damascus at about 2,500 to 3,000 tons per day, and explains that officials of Damascus and Rif Dimashq work together on this file, and that one of the reasons for intensifying police patrols is “commitment to a contract with a contractor who manages a solid waste treatment factory in Dier al-Hajar area, and the factory produces organic fertilizer by using waste”.
He stressed that the responsibility for this problem must be borne by Syria’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, because it has aspects related to child labor, in addition to exploiting them for profit.
Level of hunger
An economic researcher believes that the deterioration of the economic conditions in the country has brought many people to the level of hunger, and because of that disaster many “taboos” fall, including working in garbage picking.
“This issue is not solved by law, and it is not within the jurisdiction of municipalities, or the ministry of social affairs, and certainly not the Ministry of Interior Affairs, but it is one of the aspects of repercussions for what happened in the country, and what it has become. Therefore, the solution is not by police patrols or confiscation or anything else, because these measures no longer do anything except deprive people of sources of income from “dirty” jobs that they agreed to work in, so as not to be dead by hunger” the researcher told North Press.
He said that the situation including a huge and unprecedented rise in prices compared to income levels that are the lowest in the world, made everything have a value and price. Therefore, the need for recycling waste increased, in addition to the existence of whole families who suffer from the difficulty of securing a livelihood per day.
“What are those profits that they talk about and say that garbage traders make? They make profits undoubtedly, they work without capital, they collect what people throw away, and even if by employing children who support families these days, and certainly they will not be able in exceptional circumstances to act normally.” he wonders.
In the end, they did not find any “investments” other than garbage, and certainly no one would accept to work in this “dirty place” if he had a better job opportunity.
The researcher believes that the most municipalities can do today is to regulate this “career”, which is a part of recognizing of reality and dealing well with it. If there is no final consumer, and a merchant who buys recycled materials even by primitive means, then uses them to lower the price of some commodity, this phenomenon would not have existed in our society already.