The main challenge is that society does not see us as workers … instead of having political support, we were shunted, displaced, erased even.
— Nohra Padilla, recycler and founder of Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá.
They have been known as scavengers, reclaimers, recicladores, and waste pickers. They exist in the informal sector, often in low- to middle-income countries where formal work can be nearly impossible to find. In consumerist societies, waste pickers find opportunity where others only see garbage: they earn income by sorting through what would otherwise linger on the streets or get sent to landfill, collecting anything that can be processed and reused.
Waste is a particularly pressing issue in Bogotá, Colombia, a city of nearly 10 million people. In 2011, the city government proposed auctioning $1.7 billion in contracts to private waste companies. This threatened the informal sector of recicladores who, for decades, had been working to keep their city clean by sorting through waste, diverting reusable and recyclable materials from landfill.
This proposal also posed environmental threats. For private waste management companies, it is more profitable to send waste into the landfill than to repurpose it, since companies do not pay to use public landfills. Once there, waste pollutes the air and water, and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Failing to recycle also drives up the demand for raw materials like wood and petroleum, which leads to deforestation and oil drilling.
The work of recyclers and waste pickers is vital to reducing the ecological impact of cities. In parts of the world where people have little economic power, informal work like waste picking is widespread. There are 20 million recyclers worldwide, many of them in China and Brazil.
In Bogotá, recicladores work long hours in rough conditions, sorting through many tons of waste and selling what they reclaim to processors or middlemen. Their lack of recognition in the formal economy means that employment protections don’t apply to them, and they often experience abuse by police and sexual harassment at worksites. While mature capitalist countries may look at this as an obsolete industry, many recicladores don’t necessarily want new jobs. To begin with, they want safer working conditions.
The city of Bogotá did not pay recicladores for their work until 2013, when the mayor of Bogotá acknowledged their environmental contribution. At the time, he announced a payment system for recicladores, so they could be paid for their work and not just for the resale value of collected waste. Today, these workers get paid by the city government for every ton of recyclable materials they collect. This compensation is in addition to any other payment recyclers might receive from selling materials they find.
This victory was in large part due to the efforts of the Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB), which has fought for—and won—rights for waste pickers for over several decades. Nohra Padilla Herrera, a third-generation recycler, organized the association in the 1980s in response to the poor working conditions she faced. Individuals like Herrera frequently inherit informal recycling work because there aren’t money-making alternatives for them or their families. Organizing into cooperatives, trade unions, and associations is crucial for informal workers in Brazil to be able to fight for their rights. This organization aids them in gaining formal recognition of their work and participating in decision-making processes.
The association aims to improve the economic and social conditions for the marginalized recicladores and to provide recognition through cooperative associations. It represents 24 cooperatives, made up of about 3,000 recyclers. The kind of mutual support that the recyclers practice in ARB emanates directly from their daily experiences; they have limited capital to form businesses, so they rely on community.
When Herrera and her crew of recyclers began organizing themselves, they didn’t expect their efforts to turn into a decades-long movement with many victories along the way. They just hoped to be able to earn enough to support their families. Now, recicladores have official recognition and rights, their own recycling centers, and company agreements. Waste pickers’ organizing has also gone global, with groups worldwide learning from their counterparts in other cities about organizational models for securing their rights. Herrera serves as a leader in the Latin American & Caribbean Network of Recyclers. In 2008, ARB hosted the first International Conference of Waste Picker Organizations with representatives from 40 countries, including Brazil, China, and India.
The Brazilian waste pickers’ cooperative Amanecer de los Cartoneros has grown to become the biggest in the world. Its workers go door-to-door to collect recyclables and process more than 300 tons of recyclables per day. The SWaCH cooperative in Pune, India has secured the right for women to drive the trucks that collect community waste. This cooperative has expanded to process organic waste too, contributing to the building of zero waste systems.
Around the world, recyclers like Herrera are organizing to demand dignity and recognition for the work they do. In societies where many refuse to view recyclers as workers, this organizing has led to real solutions, paving the way for more effective, ecological waste systems led by those who work on our streets.
