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Ecolizer Odisha is an organization dealing with waste management based in Cuttack, Odisha. We are presently working with 15 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in our region, coordinating the day to day activities of collecting, segregating, packaging and disposing for reuse or recycling the material waste that we are able to work with. We are now primarily focusing on dry waste materials in our work.
For the setups dealing with dry waste in each ULB there are on an average 5-6 workers working daily without a single day off in a month. It is noteworthy that the vast majority of them are women, all of whom are married and on an average have two children. It is often seen that the workers are forced by conditions to bring their infant children to the toxic environment of their workplaces. While the majority of them are local residents there are some who come to work from distances ranging from 10 to 20kms, using public transport. Most of them work from 7:00AM to 12:00PM while some of the workers even work a double shift from 3:00PM to 5:00PM. Their monthly salaries range from 3000-3500 INR, which is incredibly low considering the nature and amount of work they do and is hardly enough even for a single person to get by with, let alone a family of four or more, especially in these trying times of the pandemic. Further, their working conditions are remarkably hazardous, particularly since the workers we are speaking of work directly, menially, with solid dry waste materials. They are not provided with even the basic equipment that are essential for such work. They are only given hand-gloves and surgical face-masks. A major area of concern here is that the workers have to work without proper boots required for this work, with a lot of them often climbing onto huge piles of waste barefoot.
These dangerous conditions of the sanitation workers (and in quite a few cases even their children), directly in touch everyday with toxic waste, not getting the bare minimum that they require for their work and to sustain their lives, has compelled us at Ecolizer to put out a call for funds so that we can provide the workers and even their children where necessary with some basic equipment. We humbly request each and every one of you seeing this to please contribute as much as is possible for you. The situation here is quite dire and the urgency is incredible and we are looking forward to your kind donations.
We intend to provide the following:
1) PPE kits(including a full-body suit, gloves and mask)
2) Waterproof gumboots
3) Hand sanitizer
4) Liquid hand soap
5) Vitamin C tablets
For the setups dealing with dry waste in each ULB there are on an average 5-6 workers working daily without a single day off in a month. It is noteworthy that the vast majority of them are women, all of whom are married and on an average have two children. It is often seen that the workers are forced by conditions to bring their infant children to the toxic environment of their workplaces. While the majority of them are local residents there are some who come to work from distances ranging from 10 to 20kms, using public transport. Most of them work from 7:00AM to 12:00PM while some of the workers even work a double shift from 3:00PM to 5:00PM. Their monthly salaries range from 3000-3500 INR, which is incredibly low considering the nature and amount of work they do and is hardly enough even for a single person to get by with, let alone a family of four or more, especially in these trying times of the pandemic. Further, their working conditions are remarkably hazardous, particularly since the workers we are speaking of work directly, menially, with solid dry waste materials. They are not provided with even the basic equipment that are essential for such work. They are only given hand-gloves and surgical face-masks. A major area of concern here is that the workers have to work without proper boots required for this work, with a lot of them often climbing onto huge piles of waste barefoot.
These dangerous conditions of the sanitation workers (and in quite a few cases even their children), directly in touch everyday with toxic waste, not getting the bare minimum that they require for their work and to sustain their lives, has compelled us at Ecolizer to put out a call for funds so that we can provide the workers and even their children where necessary with some basic equipment. We humbly request each and every one of you seeing this to please contribute as much as is possible for you. The situation here is quite dire and the urgency is incredible and we are looking forward to your kind donations.
We intend to provide the following:
1) PPE kits(including a full-body suit, gloves and mask)
2) Waterproof gumboots
3) Hand sanitizer
4) Liquid hand soap
5) Vitamin C tablets
