Extreme heat is threatening the livelihood of India’s garbage pickers
![Extreme heat is threatening the livelihood of India’s garbage pickers](https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/wp-cms-2/2024/07/AP24180698754422.jpg)
At least one person who died in northern India’s recent heat wave was identified as a garbage picker.
The putrid smell of burning garbage wafts for miles from the landfill on the outskirts of Jammu in a potentially toxic miasma fed by the plastics, industrial, medical and other waste generated by a city of some 740,000 people. But a handful of waste pickers ignore both the fumes and suffocating heat to sort through the rubbish, seeking anything they can sell to earn at best the equivalent of $4 a day.