Nigeria, Aug. 1 -- With the final round of global negotiations on plastic pollution just days away, Kenya's waste pickers are demanding formal recognition and inclusion in the upcoming second session of the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC 5.2) to be held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi on July 31, Chairman of the Kenya National Waste Pickers Welfare Association, Brian Gisore Nyabuti, called on world leaders to ensure that the voices of those on the frontlines of plastic waste management are not sidelined in the treaty process.

"I speak with urgency and resolve to demand an ambitious and inclusive global plastics treaty, one that centres the dignity, livelihoods, and rights of waste pic...