Women and solid wastes in poor communities

Many poor families exploit wastes as substitute resources, a fact that few waste management plans take into account. Such items as vegetable wastes and animal dung are used for fuel; strong plastics, scrap metal, broken bricks\AB and rags can be used for repairing shelters. Women are often the decision makers as to what is regarded as waste, and in many countries the job of municipal cleaning can be seen as primarily a woman's job. In some Indian\AB cities, a widow has the right to the first cleaning job available to support her family. Women often go out of their neighbourhoods to pick through the larger urban dumps, hunting for useable materials. It is suggested that\AB municipal waste planners incorporate a broader view of waste management by taking into account waste recovery and recycling, and perhaps social research into the perceptions of women regarding waste, understanding of health\AB hazards from uncollected wastes, and the conditions of women waste pickers concerning income, social roles and control of waste by men.