Much has been said and done about those who must be in the priority list for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but how about garbage collectors?

Several environmental groups insisted on Saturday, April 17, that waste workers must also be considered as a priority group for the COVID-19 vaccination, given their line of work that deals with hazardous waste.

Pro-environment groups, including community-based organizations of informal waste recyclers, penned a letter to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), to appeal for the vaccine prioritization of workers involved in the management of municipal solid waste, healthcare waste, commercial and industrial waste, and hazardous waste.

“We hope the IATF will positively act on our collective appeal and include the environmental frontliners from the waste management sector as a priority population group for the ongoing immunization program,” said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition.

“Ensuring early access to COVID-19 vaccine will undeniably provide health and economic benefits to our waste workers and their families,” she said. “Access to COVID-19 vaccine, especially for the marginalized groups, is health and economic justice.”

The groups cited five key reasons to justify the further expansion of the COVID-19 A4 category vaccine priority list to include the environmental frontliners from the waste management sector:

1. Waste workers perform essential service to the community and the environment.
2. Waste workers are engaged in a high risk job that may involve contact with materials and surfaces possibly contaminated with SARS-CoV-2.
3. Low levels of waste segregation at source increase waste workers’ exposure to infectious waste.
4. Waste workers are prone to occupational health risks resulting from mixed waste disposal, their manual handling of waste, and their lack of protective gear.
5. Lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 have seriously disrupted the work of informal waste workers who are meager daily wage earners, pushing them further into hunger and poverty.

Informal waste workers, who would be included in the early vaccination if the A4 category is further expanded, include waste pickers or reclaimers, itinerant waste buyers, jumpers at collection trucks, e-waste dismantlers, junk shop owners and others engaged in the recovery of recyclable materials to generate income.

Formal waste workers, on the other hand, include waste collection crew, waste truck drivers, street sweepers and other waste and sanitation workers employed by local government units, waste management companies, and homeowners’ associations, among others.