For India's garbage pickers, a miserable and dangerous job made worse by extreme heat

Waste pickers Salmaa and Usmaan Shekh, right, search for recyclable materials during a heat wave at a garbage dump on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Shekh and his family are among millions of people who scratch out a living searching through India's waste and climate change is making a hazardous job more dangerous than ever.

At the Jammu landfill, small fires dotted the massive pile, sending up plumes of smoke as two men hauled a frayed tarp loaded with garbage on the day Associated Press journalists visited. A 6-year-old boy clutched an armful of plastic sandals. As other pickers occasionally sheltered from the heat, birds wheeled overhead, occasionally touched down in their own search for scraps.

Chaturvedi, who has worked with waste pickers for more than two decades, said extreme heat has added new risks to waste pickers who are already victims of social discrimination and appalling work conditions. Heat planning and public health experts say that people who are forced to work outdoors are at most risk due to. Heatstroke, cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney diseases are some of the risks from working outdoors during high heat.

"They are trying to avoid work because of the heat since if they go to work they end up spending more at the hospital than for their food,” Begum said.

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