Summary:
Enclosing open-air dumps and outlawing waste picking are key approaches to modernizing cities around the world. THE WASTE COMMONS explores the dramatic transformations involved in the impending closure of the city waste dump in Dakar, Senegal, and the lives that hang in the balance. It follows charismatic Zidane, trailblazing Adja, and their waste picker community, as they battle to defend their carefully crafted worlds and rights to waste.

Short bio: Rosalind Fredericks is an urban geographer of West Africa and Associate Professor at New York University’s Gallatin School. She is the producer and director of the award-winning documentary The Waste Commons, which examines the politics of waste picking and urban transformation at the Mbeubeuss waste dump in Dakar, Senegal.