low social status and lack of social support. one of the most extreme manifestations of such stigma occurs in colombia, where, since the 1980s, "social cleansing" vigilante groups, sometimes working with police complicity, have killed at least two thousand waste collectors, beggars, and prostitutes—whom they refer to as "disposables" (desechables). in 1992, around the peak of this activity, eleven corpses of murdered waste collectors were discovered at a university in barranquilla. their organs had been sold for transplants and bodies sold to the medical school for dissection (medina 2009, 155). waste picker organizing traditionally, scholars assumed that informal workers such as waste pickers could not collectively organize due to structural barriers such as lack of legal protection, widely dispersed worksites, porous borders to their profession, a culture of independence and individualism, lack of institutional experience, and lack of money and time to build organizations. nonetheless, in recent decades waste pickers across latin america, asia, and africa have begun collectively organizing to win a place within formal recycling systems. waste pickers use many organizational formats including cooperatives, associations, companies, unions, and micro-enterprises. despite the differences in format, most of these organizations share three primary purposes. first, by pooling capital, establishing microenterprises, and forming partnerships with business and government, waste collectors increase their selling power. second, by securing uniforms, safety equipment, and work permits, cooperatives increase workplace dignity and safety. and third, by demanding recognition and compensation from the state for their environmental and economic contributions, cooperatives increase members' political might. these three functions—political influence, workplace dignity and safety, and increased earnings—are mutually reinforcing, like legs on a stool. some waste pickers have created "women's only" organizations, which seek to combat gender-based discrimination at worksites and in communities. a study in brazil indicates that women are heavily overrepresented even in coed organizations, making up 56% of the membership despite the fact that they represent only a third of the total waste picking population. beginning in the 1990s, waste picker organizations in many parts of the world began uniting into regional, national, and transnational coalitions to increase their political voice and economic leverage. in march 2008, delegates from 30 countries gathered in bogotá, colombia, for the first world conference (and third latin american conference) of waste pickers (wiego 2008). one of the key issues discussed was the global trend of privatization and concentration of waste management systems. normally, privatization is thought of as the handover of government functions to the private sector, but in this case, privatization often means the transference of services formerly provided by informal waste collectors to private firms. as waste streams have expanded due to increased consumption, the waste management industry is becoming increasingly lucrative. governments around the world are granting private companies monopolies on waste management systems, meaning that the cooperatives' survival hinges on building political and economic alliances needed to win contracts—often an uphill battle given authorities' distrust of waste collectors and the cooperatives' lack of capital for modern machinery. organizing in latin america a picker in brazil who has collected cans and bottles in 1962, the first known latin american waste picker's organization, cooperativa antioqueña de recolectores de subproductos, was created in medellín, colombia. the colombian waste pickers movement did not emerge as a veritable political force until 1990, however, when four cooperatives who had been fighting the closure of a landfill united as the waste collector's association of bogotá (asociación de recicladores de bogotá, arb). today the arb is one of the world's most active and established waste picker organizations. in 2013, the goldman environmental prize was awarded to nohra padilla (representing the arb) for her contribution to waste management and recycling in colombia. throughout the 1990s, powerful waste collectors associations began to form in other latin american countries as well—most notably in brazil, argentina, chile, and uruguay. in 2005, brazil hosted the first meeting of the latin american waste picker network (lawpn)—an organization that now represents waste pickers movements from 16 countries. lawpn has four key functions. first, it facilitates exchanges of knowledge, technology, and strategies between member organizations through regional conventions, country-to-country delegations, telecommunications, and strategic reports. second, it organizes transnational solidarity to aid in local battles. for example, when waste pickers in montevideo, uruguay, needed support in a local campaign, member organizations across latin america issued solidarity statements and pressured their national ambassadors in uruguay to do the same. third, lawpn sends leaders from countries with strong waste picker movements to countries with weak movements in order to promote the development of new leadership and organizations. fourth, lawpn organizes global waste picker committees to make appeals for support to transnational governance organizations such as the inter-american development bank, the un convention on climate change, and the international labour organization. in argentina, the movement of excluded workers (excluded in the sense that their work is not recognized by the government and they are excluded from receiving rights) is the largest waste pickers organization. it is a social organization, independent from political parties, which brings together more than 2,000 cartoneros (waste picker) in capital federal and the suburbs, specifically in the neighborhoods of lanús and lomas de zamora. after years of sacrifice and struggle, they managed to improve their working conditions. they have established a more logistical system—they no longer travel by hanging off of trucks, they have obtained a work incentive and uniforms, and lastly they have founded a nursery for 160 children, some of whom worked in the past as cartoneros. however, they still have to advance in designing a social security program that includes all the cartoneros of buenos aires. additionally, they have to raise awareness among residents of the city to separate their trash so that they can collect door to door, without having direct contact with wet materials. organizing in asia india is home to asia's largest waste picker movement. self-employed women's association of india, a trade union that exclusively organizes women in the informal economy and has membership of over one million, began organizing waste pickers in the late 1970s. sewa has created nearly ninety waste pickers cooperatives, which members use to gain collective work contracts and access to credit, training, and markets. one of asia's largest waste picker associations is the alliance of indian waste pickers (aiw), a national network of 35 organizations in 22 cities. the aiw facilitates peers support, advocacy and cross-learning among waste pickers, iterant buyers, and support ngos. also in india, the all india kabari mazdoor mahasangh (aikmm) is locked in a battle with the new delhi municipal council, which closed a deal with the hyderabad-based company, ramky energy and environment ltd to manage the waste, in effect criminalising the work of more than 100,000 unorganised waste pickers that currently sort about 20% of delhi's garbage. the ejolt project made a video on what they call the delhi waste war. waste pickers in thailand have also organized, including the khon kaen scavengers. in delhi, the ngo chintan environmental research and action group makes the work of waste pickers safer (by providing gloves and mouth masks) and it also provides for a steady source of income (by paying a monthly wage to the waste pickers). an indian waste pickers union known as kkpkp recently carried out a mapping initiative to identify organizations of or that work with waste pickers across the continent—a first step towards the development an asian network. several ngos and trade unions that work with waste pickers, as well as loosely formed groups of waste pickers, were identified in cambodia, indonesia, the philippines, and thailand. in bangladesh, grambangla unnayan committee is working with the waste picker community at matuail waste dumpsite of dhaka city corporation. a daycare centre and a non-formal primary school has been established for the child waste pickers where 112 child waste pickers are given early childhood care and education. women waste pickers of matuail has formed a waste pickers' cooperative. in pune (india) there are a worker cooperative of waste pickers, called swach. swach is an acronym for solid waste collection handling that also means clean, in the local language. this initiative empower all members. they all work, they're not merely shareholders. among the workers, in most age groups, women constitute a bigger group than men, with a total of 78%. however, men are the majority in the youngest age group. before joining swach, most members used to work as waste pickers or itinerant waste buyers. there's also another group that is constituted by former housekeeping and cleaning workers. the predominant group of swach belongs to the scheduled caste, although other backward castes, as well as the middle castes, are also represented in swach. this initiative is a result of inclusive cities project that has the objective of integrating waste pickers into municipal solid waste management in pune (india). organizing in africa egypt has one of the world's most well-established and robust informal recycling systems. the labor is done for the most part by the zabaleen (informal waste collectors), a predominantly coptic christian community, which in the 1940s began collecting garbage—work viewed as impure by egypt's muslim majority. in 2003, the zabaleen's existence and way of life came under threat when cairo authorities awarded annual contracts $50 to three multinational garbage disposal companies, pushing the zabaleen to collectively defend their livelihood. the south african waste picker organization held its first meeting in july 2009, which included 100 waste pickers from 26 landfills across the country. there are no present plans to create an african waste picker's network, but shack/slum dwellers international organized meetings between waste picker leaders in kenya, egypt, and south africa.