Waste picker workers around the world make a living collecting, sorting, recycling, and selling materials that others throw away. Their work contributes to local economies, public health and environmental sustainability. The vast majority of waste pickers in India are women, and Dalits, who have been invisible to society, faced discrimination and worked without recognition for years. In Pune, thousands of such unorganised and unrecognised waste pickers were organised under the trade union Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat in 1993. These waste pickers stood together to claim their rights as workers, identity as humans and dignity as professionals. In 2007, they built a wholly waste picker-owned SWaCH cooperative organisation and established a waste picker-led waste management system for the entire city. They faced and continue to face challenges and are yet undeterred to pursue strengthened waste picker livelihoods, empowered next generation, increased visibility of the waste picker community and importantly, the Worth(Mol) of their life and work.