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Tehran’s growing population of trash collectors is a tragic reflection of the clerical regime’s mismanagement, leading to widespread poverty and economic despair. Official reports reveal that over 6,000 trash collectors have been identified in Tehran alone, with more than 4,500 of them being “managed,” as claimed by Asghar Jalayian, the deputy minister for human rights and international affairs at the Ministry of Justice. Shockingly, “over 80% of trash collectors are non-Iranians, many without proper residency permits,” according to state reports from ISNA. Instead of addressing the root causes of this crisis, the government has opted to criminalize and deport foreign workers caught scavenging.
Despite the state’s rhetoric, the true source of this crisis is the regime’s failure to provide economic opportunities for the people. The clerical establishment, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has pushed millions of Iranians into poverty, forcing many to resort to scavenging for survival. The Iranian regime has deflected attention by emphasizing that trash collecting is a violation of “human dignity and public health,” but fails to acknowledge that the widespread poverty it has created is what drives people into such desperate situations.
The regime’s policies have exacerbated income inequality and created a vast underclass, leaving the impoverished to fend for themselves in a corrupt system where a mafia, often linked to government bodies, exploits trash collectors for profit. This underground trash economy has thrived under the regime’s watch. According to Reza Mohammadi, the head of Tehran’s Waste Management Organization, efforts to combat the so-called “trash mafia” are slow and face systemic obstacles. He stated, “For faster action, we need the cooperation of the judiciary, the prosecutor’s office, and law enforcement.”
#Iran regime’s systematic exploitation of children:
These #childlaborers produce a daily profit of 2 trillion Tomans for the garbage mafia. Of these profits, 200 billion Tomans go to Tehran’s Municipality. (ILNA news agency – Sept 12, 2020) pic.twitter.com/Y2y9EH4NQl
— Women's Committee NCRI (@womenncri) September 22, 2021
The numbers are staggering. Daily, Tehran produces 7,500 tons of waste, of which 1,125 tons of recyclable materials are collected. However, much of this collection is carried out by impoverished trash collectors who are exploited by middlemen. The regime’s Waste Management Organization even benefits from this arrangement, having reportedly “authorized the hiring of 5,000 workers,” yet many of these laborers remain underpaid and subjected to inhumane working conditions.
According to the state-run Jamaran News on February 22, 2022, Tehran’s waste industry generates enormous profits, most of which are controlled by a powerful mafia. With the city producing 9,000 tons of waste daily, the profit reaches 20 billion tomans per day, amounting to 7,000 billion tomans annually. Nationwide, this figure jumps to 45,000 billion tomans. Meanwhile, a report by Tehran Municipality revealed that 14,000 trash collectors operate across the country, highlighting the grim exploitation of impoverished workers amid the regime’s failure to address the issue.
Despite the regime’s insistence on “organizing” these workers, there has been little effort to address the structural factors driving thousands of people, including vulnerable children, into trash picking. The clerical regime’s so-called solutions, such as the establishment of a hotline for citizens to report trash collectors, only mask the deeper issue. The regime prefers to criminalize and deport scavengers rather than tackle the underlying poverty and corruption that fuel this growing crisis.
#43YearsOfMisery#Isfahan, C #Iran—#Shahreza residents reported the heartbreaking demise of a six-year-old garbage collector in Mahyar village💔
The state-backed garbage mafia exploits tens of thousands of children to line its pocket with their souls:https://t.co/WzAul1ilQJ pic.twitter.com/33M2iUJmOU
— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) June 29, 2022
Tehran’s waste crisis is not just a symbol of environmental neglect but a damning indictment of the regime’s relentless funneling of Iran’s enormous wealth into its missile, nuclear, and terrorism agendas to compensate for its serious lack of legitimacy. As long as Khamenei’s regime prioritizes its survival over the needs of its people, mismanages the country’s resources, and represses its population, Tehran’s streets will remain littered with both trash and the forgotten souls forced to sift through it.