Washington, DC: The founder of India’s Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, Bharati Chaturvedi, will speak at a forum on informal recycling in the developing world Friday (Sept. 26) at American University.

Chintan works with wastepickers of Delhi, who scour through open trash bins for recyclable paper, metals, glass and plastics, which they then sell. According to Chintan, wastepickers account for almost 1 percent of Delhi’s population and handle about 20 percent of the city’s waste. They earn, on average, one or two dollars a day.

Ms Chaturvedi will be joined by Peter Cohen, an anthropologist and social development consultant from the World Bank, and Sandra Cointreau, a solid waste management advisor for the Bank.

The forum will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the School of International Service (SIS) Lounge on the American University campus.

Chintan is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP Peace Fellow Paul Colombini, an American University graduate student who volunteered with Chintan in Delhi this summer, helped to organize the forum.

Learn more about the event.