Not to school, these children go to collect garbage in the morning

Thirteen-year-old Md Yasin has to wake up before 8:00 am every day. Then he quickly gets ready and gets out of the home. Nope, it’s not school that awaits him. He heads to the secondary waste transfer station (STS) in the capital’s Kafrul area.

The boy grabs a cup of tea and a bun from the nearby tea stall before setting off with a waste collection pedal-powered van. The driver of the van and his assistant, Yasin go from door to door on designated buildings in the area to collect household waste. After carrying the garbage bags downstairs, his main duty is to push the cart, heavily laden with waste back to the STS.

The van is in awful condition. And, it is not an easy task to push a garbage-laden van forward. A worn-out tyre tube is tied to the front of the cart and slung over the shoulder to help pull it along. Yasin and his supervisor, the driver, take turns to pull the cart like this.

Yasin’s shift ends only after the waste has been loaded onto the city corporation’s garbage truck. However, both the children and adult waste collectors sift through the rubbish to separate out items like plastic and other recyclables to sell.

While speaking to Yasin on 25 April, he said that he lives with his family at Bhashantek slum in the capital. His father works as a mason and his mother is a housewife. Yasin found out about this job through one of his uncles around two years ago.

This child has been doing this job for a monthly salary of Tk 7,000 since then. Yasin has the chance to earn a few extra thousand taka every month by picking out saleable items from the waste. He took up the job to meet his own needs as well as to help out his family.

When asked why he started working at such a young age, Yasin said, “My parents do want me to study, and I did have some education. But I didn’t like sitting around all afternoon after coming back from school. That’s why I had started working in the first place. Now I can buy whatever I need myself and can also contribute to the family.”

A recent visit through different areas of the capital exposed the real picture of children being involved in door-to-door waste collection from residential buildings. Reportedly there are at least 40 to 50 garbage vans in every waste transfer station. That number ranges from 90 to 100 at the Karail station in Mohakhali area.

The child workers involved in this work call to the cart drivers by the name ‘Mohajon’ (supervisor). These Mohajons themselves work under the cart owners, each of whom usually owns four to five such carts. The drivers recruit the children as helpers to ease their workload.  

Experts warn that this kind of labour is extremely hazardous to children’s health. Yet, there seems to be little concern from the policymakers regarding the wellbeing of these children.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) published National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) 2022 in March last year. According to the report, there are about 40 million (4 crore) children aged between five and 17 in the country.

Of them, 3.537 million (35.37 lakh) are engaged in child labour with about 1.07 million (10.7 lakh) involved in hazardous work. As many as 2.01 million (20.1 lakh) of these child workers receive no wages at all. And, those who do earn money make an average of Tk 6,675 per month.

Experts say that a significant portion of these child workers are employed informally and that is highly concerning. Because this makes sure that the employers are not held accountable in any way. The list of children in hazardous and informal work also includes those involved in waste collection.

This correspondent spoke to 10-year-old Md Zahid in front of a secondary waste transfer station in Dhaka’s Shewrapara area. This child has been working as a helper on a waste collection van only for the past two months. His elder brother, Nayan, 17, is the driver of the cart. Their father drives a battery-powered rickshaw, while their mother works as a domestic helper.

Zahid was enrolled in a madrasah not long ago, but he wasn’t interested in studying. Instead, he had started spending time with the “wrong crowd”. Explaining the situation, his brother Nayan said, “I brought him (Zahid) to work so he’d understand how hard it is to earn money. If this hardship scares him back into studying, that would still be a good thing.”

But in reality it’s difficult to keep up such hopes. Nayan himself never returned to school after joining this line of work. He started driving waste collecting carts when he was just 10 or 11 years old and hasn’t been able to leave the job since. Now, both the brothers are engaged in the same work, each earning a monthly wage of Tk 10,000.

The story of 13-year-old Abdullah, involved in the same job is also similar. The child, who came from Sylhet has been working as a helper to his elder brother for the past nine months and lives with him in the city. According to Abdullah, their combined income counting in wages and earnings from selling scrap plastic or metal reaches close to Tk 30,000 per month.

Over the past three weeks, Prothom Alo spoke to 10 children involved in waste collection across different parts of Dhaka. All of them said that they joined the work due to financial hardships in their families. Pursuing studies instead of working for money under such conditions is somewhat of a luxury for them. However, at least four of those children said that their parents did have encouraged them to go to school.

According to the same BBS survey, 25.5 per cent of the 189,444 (1.89 lakh) children workers enlisted nationwide never attended school. For, they do not consider education as something valuable. This tendency is more common among child workers aged between 5 and 11, with 49.3 per cent of them never enrolling in school for the same reason. Meanwhile, a significant number of working children aged from 14 to 17 dropped out due to high expense of education or for some other financial crisis.

Apart from the households, another major source of waste production is the numerous restaurants that have sprung up in every corner of the capital. On 30 April, this correspondent spoke to another child named Md Ibrahim at the STS in Kalabagana area of Dhaka.

The 15-year-old boy works as a cleaner at a restaurant in Dhaka. His daily tasks include cleaning the restaurant and delivering all the waste to the STS.

Ibrahim’s father is a rickshaw-puller. As his income was not enough to support the family, Ibrahim started working when he was just seven years old.

“The pay was low at first but now I earn Tk 15,000 per month. We are somehow managing to run the household putting all of our earnings together,” the boy said.

Ibrahim never had the good fortune to attend school but he does not regret about it.

Apart from organic waste, various types of plastic, broken metal and glass, and sharp blade-like objects were noticed in the heap of garbage at the STS.

This correspondent saw medical waste like empty medicine bottles, abandoned saline bags and plastic tubes, as well as syringes and needles at several STS. The children and other workers were seen handling this waste with their bare hands, without any sort of protective gear.

When asked how dangerous this type of work is for children’s health, registrar at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, Sumaiya Liza told Prothom Alo that the children who handle such waste often end up cutting their hands or feet. This poses a risk of contracting diseases like Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS. There’s also a high risk of chronic infections. Over time, their bodies may no longer respond to antibiotics.

Physician Sumaiya Liza added that constant exposure to the stench of waste can damage children’s normal sense of smell. When that happens, children often experience a loss of appetite, which leads to severe malnutrition. Some of them then become victim of drug addiction.

Moreover, prolonged exposure to filthy and unhygienic environments causes many of these children to suffer from various respiratory problems and skin diseases, she observed.

There was a time when children used to collect waste on the streets of Dhaka. Now, the entire waste management system runs within a structure. Mentioning this to Prothom Alo, executive director of the non-governmental organisation Incidin Bangladesh, AKM Masud Ali said he had hoped that the change in system would lead to children being removed from this line of work and their inclusion in education or other initiatives.

However, it’s unfortunate that the way these waste collection agencies are using children that it leaves no scope for their inclusion in education. There are no initiatives in place to ensure their health and safety either.

Rather, these children face long working hours, class discrimination, and a sense of social isolation. The aspect of commercial interests seems more important than child rights here. Also not many initiatives of including children in activities that uphold or promote their rights can be noticed either.

Experts working on child health and rights say that children are openly becoming involved in these hazardous jobs. Yet, there appears to be little initiative from the authorities to address their health and rights. As an exception, a few NGOs are working to provide informal education to these children. But overall, the issue of health protection for these children is remaining largely neglected.

Incidin Bangladesh executive director AKM Masud Ali said, “A commercial interest has become involved here. That’s why we suspect that when the government or the policymakers consider intervening, they prioritise issues like job creation and low-cost waste management. There is also a social stigma associated with working in this sector. That is why the children remain excluded from education. Moreover, due to this sense of social isolation, they find it quite difficult to transition into other types of employment later, even as adults.”

Reportedly the waste collection companies in Dhaka collect a ‘service charge’ ranging from Tk 140 to Tk 200 per month depending on the area. Usually, a single cart is responsible for collecting waste from 30 buildings. Suppose each six-storey building has two units per floor.

If every flat pays an average of Tk 170, the total collected from 30 buildings amounts to Tk 61,200. Of this, the cart driver receives a wages of Tk 15,000 per month, while the assistant child worker earns around Tk 6,000 to 7,000 on an average. So, a substantial portion of the income actually goes into the owner’s pocket.

What’s hopeful is that the government has recently initiated efforts to identify hazardous sectors involving child labour and to register the children engaged in such work. Several non-government organisations have also become involved in the process. And, the children involved in waste collection are being prioritised in this case.

Experts warn that parents or guardians will not be persuaded if the children removed from laborious work are not provided with practical training, education and, upon reaching adulthood, suitable employment opportunities. Because given the class disparities and the high cost of education, it is difficult to keep them enrolled in educational institutions. Moreover, many families live below the poverty line even with their child’s earnings.

In that case, providing registered child workers with identification cards for attending schools along with a financial incentive in return could help attract their families. The government currently has a national action plan in place until 2025. And, it is also important to adopt a post-2025 action plan. However it will be extremely difficult to implement any initiative effectively without coordinated efforts across ministries.