Lakshmi Narayanan is one of the co-founders and the former General Secretary of KKPKP – Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat, a trade union of waste pickers based in Pune, India. Founded with the aim of transforming public perception of informal waste picking, KKPKP provides a solidarity-based platform that brings together workers who collect paper, glass, and metal waste, advocating for their rights, improving their working conditions, and restoring dignity to their labor.

Established in 1993 under the leadership of Dr. Baba Adhav, KKPKP became the collective voice of marginalized women waste pickers, securing official recognition through protests, advocacy, and legal action . In 2001, a comprehensive ILO-backed study led by Narayanan and her team demonstrated that waste pickers annually diverted 118,000 tons of recyclables from landfills, saving the municipality approximately USD 316,455 in waste transport costs—highlighting the critical role of waste pickers in sustainable urban systems .