BADIN: Rag-pickers whose livelihood is dependent on r
ecycling factories are facing hardships across the province after a ban and the sealing of r
ecycling and cardboard factories by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa).
Cardboard and r
ecycling factories had been sealed in Hyderabad and Kotri districts on the pretext of violation of law and regulations. These factories had failed to install treatment plants to control pollution.
The rag-pickers earn their livelihood by collectin
g scrap and other waste material and later selling it to r
ecycle factories. The closure of cardboard and r
ecycling factories would increase unemployment in t
he country. Over a hundred shops deal with r
ecycle stuff alone in District Badin. Meanwhile, the former president of Peoples Labour Union, District Badin, Mohammad Iqbal said that members of over a 1,000 poor families were engaged in the picking up of cardboards and other waste materials are affected due to the closure of the
se recycling and cardboard factories in the district.