Waste pickers not only generate social benefits, but also potential costs as well.

Most academic research on waste pickers is qualitative rather than quantitative.

In developing countries especially, many argue that modern services should replace waste pickers.

They believe waste pickers total around 550 in Delhi.

There is little reliable data about the number and demographics of waste pickers worldwide.

India is home to Asia's largest waste picker movement.

The collection of recyclable material in Brazil is largely from waste pickers.

Waste picker incomes vary vastly by location, form of work, and gender.

In the developing world, waste pickers often scavenge for still-usable materials.

Waste pickers provide the only solid waste removal service in many cities.

Chintan's efforts have reached more than 20,000 waste pickers in India in the past five years.

Some waste pickers live in extreme poverty, but many others earn multiple times their country's minimum wage.

Child labor: Children commonly work as waste pickers.

Waste pickers' perceived poverty and lack of sanitation makes some people uncomfortable or fearful.

American waste pickers predominantly collect cans, bottles, and cardboard.

Public health and sanitation: Waste pickers collect garbage from neighborhoods that lack public services.

Public nuisance: Many people view waste pickers as a nuisance or source of shame for their communities.

Also, there is widespread public scorn against waste pickers due to their poverty and perceived lack of hygiene.

Many immigrants work as waste pickers because language and documentation barriers limit their opportunities to work elsewhere.

Without waste pickers, residents would be forced to burn trash, or dispose of it in rivers, streets and empty lots.

Waste pickers use many organizational formats including cooperatives, associations, companies, unions, and micro-enterprises.

Today the ARB is one of the world's most active and established waste picker organizations.

And equally importantly, the lives of individual waste pickers and junkers and their children had been changed for the better.

The term "scavenger" is also commonly used, but many waste pickers find it demeaning due to the implied comparison with animals.

Some waste pickers have created "women's only" organizations, which seek to combat gender-based discrimination at worksites and in communities.