Chintan

Chintan was established in December 1999 as a means of addressing issues of sustainable consumption and environmental and social justice. The Delhi-based organization works with and supports the rights of waste pickers or waste recyclers: persons who earn an income from the house-to-house pick up of waste, the sale of scrap materials, and recycling. Chintan assists hundreds of thousands of waste pickers, waste buyers, and waste reprocessors in organizing collectives in the Delhi Capital Region and it advocates for their rights at the city and national levels.

Chintan’ approach involves capacity building for green jobs in the informal sector; inclusion of the urban poor in policy making; research and advocacy on issues of environmental justice and environmental governance; helping children working in recycling to phase out and go to school; and education and awareness-raising with diverse groups. A grassroots strategy informs all of Chintan’s work, right up to advocating for better policy at the state and central level. Its work is also informed by several other ongoing dialogues - the Millennium Development Goals and several international conventions, which Chintan re-envisions in its specific context.

Chintan and WITNESS have worked together to produce Counterbalance, a video that advocates for the inclusion of waste recyclers as valuable private players in the waste and recycling management in Delhi.