UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On Jan. 17, as part of Penn State’s 2024 Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration, Penn State Sustainability (SustainPSU), in collaboration with the Center for Global Workers’ Rights (CGWR), used its ongoing Landscapes of Labor film series to explore the historical connections between the labor and civil rights movements, as seen in continuing struggles for the rights of waste workers. The conversation continues on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 4 p.m. in Foster Auditorium with a talk by Colombian labor leader Silvio Grisales, discussing global labor movements among waste pickers. 

The Jan. 17 program of waste and labor-oriented short films explored how, at the time of his assassination, King’s work was shifting the civil rights movement into a broader and international effort to empower workers’ rights and connected that effort to modern struggles by waste pickers and plastic workers in China and other nations.  

“While Dr. Martin Luther King is mainly remembered as a civil rights leader, he was also a strong defender of workers’ rights, a critic of U.S. foreign policy, and an advocate of social justice,” explained Luis Mendoza, labor rights lawyer and administrative support coordinator for the Center for Global Workers' Rights, as he opened the event.  

The event featured a screening of the following three short films: 

• I Am a Man, detailing the 1968 labor strike of sanitation workers in Memphis, supported by King

• Plastic China, a documentary looking at the lives of Chinese plastic recyclers processing mountains of plastic waste exported by the global north

• el Empleo, an award-winning animated short about unseen labor that supports but is ignored by modern society

In the post-film discussion, Manuel Rosaldo, assistant professor of labor and employment relations in the CGWR, quoted King, who said: “One day, our society will come to respect the sanitation worker if it is to survive, for the person who picks up our garbage, in the final analysis, is as significant as the physician, for if he doesn’t do his job, diseases are rampant. All labor has dignity.” 

Haoju Lu, Chinese labor rights activist and a Penn State master’s student in labor and global workers' rights, explained that many Chinese plastic waste workers knowingly endanger their own health in unsafe working conditions in the hope of improving their children’s chances to afford an education that can lead to economic advancement. She noted that changing Chinese attitudes around plastic waste only emerged through efforts by Jiuliang Wang, Plastic China’s director, and other censored journalists to uncover the unsafe conditions and proliferating waste imported to China from the U.S. and other Western nations. 

“There is a ‘green lie.’ The so-called beautiful waste recycling industry in the global North highly relies on cheap labor in China and other nations in the global South that is putting local communities, informal workers, and local ecologies at risk,” Lu said. 

Ayodeji Oluwalana, Penn State's waste reduction and recycling program manager, noted that part of his mission has been to empower Penn State’s custodial staff and waste truck drivers, helping them feel seen and recognized for the vital role they play on our campuses.  

“Too often, the way we treat waste workers is also the way we treat our garbage," Oluwalana said. "Whenever you see custodians or waste truck drivers, just say, ‘Hi and thank you for all that you do.' Once we understand the human element to the handling of waste, all of our behavior around waste will change.”  

Building on this conversation, CGWR, with co-sponsorship from SustainPSU and the College of Liberal Arts, will present Grisales’ Jan. 31 talk, titled “Recycling Without Waste Pickers is Garbage.” Grisales will detail how the more than 15 million waste pickers worldwide, who eke out a living by salvaging recyclable materials from trash, are moving to organize collectively and demand civil and labor rights in recognition of the vital and dangerous work they perform, too often without protection or respect from local authorities.  

The film screenings and talks are part of SustainPSU’s ongoing Intersections Film Program. Since 2019, Intersections has welcomed more than 6,000 attendees and 100 expert guests to over 45 screenings of sustainability-themed films to create conversations and community at the intersection of economic, social, and environmental justice issues. All programming is free and open to all.  

The next screening will be part of the Soundings water film series, co-presented with Penn State’s Water Council. On Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. ET online, SustainPSU will screen two short films on water justice and infrastructure: Saving Juliette and Wastewater: A Tale of Two Cities. Pre-registration is required via this link. 

SustainPSU will also bring climate reporter and author Geoff Dembicki to campus from Thursday, Feb. 8, to Saturday, Feb. 10, to headline a variety of events for students and community members, both in-person and virtual. Visit the event webpage for times, locations and additional details regarding events.  

For more information, please reach out to Grant Rowe, SustainPSU’s programming coordinator, at ger5277@psu.edu.