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Polls cheer for scavengers

Waste pickers earn some extra bucks by selling leftover posters and campaign materials

Shah naz Parveen
Scavengers of the city are feeling especially fortunate after the December 29 national election. They are busy collecting thousands of posters and other canvassing materials as the political activists are resting after a hectic campaign.
Election posters and other decorative items used for campaign have become the newest source of income for the waste pickers.
The city wore a festive look during the last two weeks of campaign with millions of posters hanging all over the city. Placards, banners and colourful party symbols were also installed by candidates in every constituency.
Waste pickers of all ages started collecting these gleefully the moment balloting stopped.
Mohammad Alim, a scavenger from Begunbari working in Karwan Bazar area said, "It's a boon for us. Now we are working day and night to collect posters."
"It's a good thing that this time the posters were not pasted on the walls with glue, which made them more usable,” Alim added.
Before the much-awaited December 29 national election, the Election Commission barred the candidates from putting up posters on the walls. The candidates were only allowed to hang the posters with rope.
"The main roads are almost cleared up. Now we
are moving to alleys in various localities that are still full of posters and other items," said another waste collector, Mohammad Faruque. working near Farmgate.
He mentioned that a huge competition is going on among the scavengers.
The collectors sell the posters, jute ropes and bamboo sticks to locals traders involved in the waste business, who then sell them to Nimtoli market in Gulistan, where a huge business of recyclable materials takes place.
Another collector
Morsheda said, “My family had already started preparing packets with posters that are still intact. The packets will be sold to grocery shops.”
The torn papers are sold to the waste traders, which will be resold for recycling. Bamboo used for placards are also being sold as firewood in the market. The jute ropes used for hanging posters are being sold for reuse.
Morsheda said tearing the posters from ropes is very risk)' as most of them are tangled with electric wires.
Md. Rana a trader from Nimtoli said they are more interested in posters as these can be recycled to make paper cartons.
Many posters and decoration are still hanging in disarray in the city with no sign of cleaning activity from the Dhaka City Corporation's cleaning crews.
Contacted, one of the high officials from DCC requesting anonymity told Star City that they cannot execute the cleaning job in many areas fearing obstruction from local political leaders.