This project has stopped 10 tons of non-recyclable plastic waste from reaching Jakarta's garbage dumps by partnering with trash pickers who collect and sell it to XSProject . This gives trash pickers extra income. Post consumer trash is then "upcycled" into new products and sold. It will pay salaries for XSProject's washers and sewers who make the products we sell. It will provide clean drinking water, health checkups, medical attention, vocational training and micro-finance opportunities.
As industrialization spreads in Indonesia, rural communities are being displaced. Families go to Jakarta in search of work. They have little education and no documentation so they end up living in the garbage dumps and picking trash that they sell to survive. They live amid rotting garbage, breathe smoke filled air, wash and cook in polluted water. Living on about $4.00 a day, a trash picker is exposed to infectious diseases and hazardous waste. Tuberculosis and hepatitis are common ailments.
XSProject believes that the only way to solve this problem is to break the generational cycle of trash picking by educating their children. We focus on a K-12 education for the children and tackle the most critical family needs by providing food, clean water, medical treatment and housing to give stability to the families. With an education, a young person can get a good job and move his/her family away from the garbage dump.
XSProject advocates for trash pickers in private and government sectors. Until Jakarta has an organized solid waste and recycling system, trash pickers will do that work. We are a Fair Trade organization. Some of our employees are former trash pickers. They receive steady and fair wages, a good working environment and free education for their children. By sharing the story of our work, our donor partners help us lessen the trash picker's burden and give them hope for the future.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Excel file (projdoc.xls).
