It’s a cold difficult morning. The cold breeze is piercing through the skin. Scavengers who belong to the lowest class of society begin collecting garbage in the wee hours of the morning
The scavengers hail from the province of Punjab or either from neighbouring Afghanistan. One of the Afghan scavengers Kadir Aziz, arrived in Pakistan just two weeks ago from the city of Farah situated in western Afghanistan. He fumbles when I ask his age.
I must be 20 he says in Urdu yet he looks like a well-built man deep in his thirties. There are lines across his forehead. There is a black beauty spot on the left side of his chin which he frequently touches. Upon inquiring further of his whereabouts, there is confusion on his face. A bewilderment of chaos. When he sees me writing, his eyes scrutinize me. Aziz has been collecting garbage from the streets since he was 10 years old. Wearing a sand coloured shalwar kameez, his shalwar is tied well above his waist which shows most of his legs below the knees.
Along with him is Moula Daad who is skinny and short. With big hazel eyes, he smiles when he talks. Quoting his age as 21, he has a safety pin on his almost button-less brown kameez. The silver pin is big, fairly new and barely holds together the shirt. Daad frequently looks around as I pose my questions. Upon arriving he has told the men around him in his native language that he can’t speak a word of Urdu. A gracious man standing nearby agrees to be my translator and asks him my pestering questions. There is a huge language barrier.
While Daad sits on his bicycle with a tattered garbage collection bag on his back, he very much obliges to answer. Daad is from Hilmand, a province in Afghanistan from an agricultural town Marjah and has crossed the border without a visa. Daad picks up garbage from the streets and lives in an empty plot near Marvi Store in Defence area of Karachi. Daad has been in Pakistan for the past one year and has been doing this since. He has been trying to get other work but is unable to secure one as no one is willing to hire him. Daad knows a kabari wala with the name of Qayamat Deen who is near Marvi buying the trash from him who takes the trash further to Sher Shah.
“It’s usually gas canisters, cardboard, soda cans and roti that we sell to the kabari wala,” said Aziz.
Ahmed Ali is a 40-year-old man who is standing closely watching my interaction with the Afghan scavengers. Ali is part of Cantonment Board Clifton and has been working actively since the last six months as a supervisor to the people who clean the streets. Before this he used to work for a Chinese company in Pakistan as a supervisor.
“The scavengers collect the waste and put it in the kachra kundi which is located in every street. After which a car comes and takes it away,” said Ali.
The trash is taken near Surjani near Nagan Chowrangi where it is dumped. The trash goes all the way out of Karachi. Covering different areas, the scavengers working for the CBC are mostly from Punjab wearing orange overalls over their navy blue uniform. The Afghan scavengers are however independent.
According to The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan has 1.4 million registered Afghans who have left their hometowns because of the war and economic situation. With the overflow of refugees there are issues with space and overcrowding takes place. Pakistan barely has space to cater to the Afghans yet their influx is unstoppable.
According to an article in Dawn on November 24th 2019, the European Commission has allocated 40m Euros for Afghan refugees as the humanitarian crisis situation keeps getting worse. There are economic concerns causing a strain on Pakistan with space issues. Even with scavengers on the road the waste management is abysmal. Pakistan produces 48.5 million tons of solid waste a year which increases by nearly 2% annually. Pakistan has a lack of waste management infrastructure which in turn creating environmental issues. Lack of urban planning and low public awareness contribute to the failing system.
The Afghan scavengers are part of the informal economy and cover a large sector of solid waste management yet there is little solution on how to decrease or recycle trash which negatively impacts the environment.