Download Waste Pickers Co.

Unsustainable Negligence
Waste Pickers Co.
Without a structured system, a group of 4 thousand people sustains the recycling in the city
Emanuel Alencar, Ludmila Curi and Rogério Daflon
[email protected]
The waste picker is today the main agent of the precaious recycling system in Rio. If in
Brazil the weight of this informal manpower is huge in the waste reuse chain, in European
countries, this stakeholder now has a secondary role. In countries such as Germany and
Portugal, the collection of recyclables is done by local government employees or by companies
funded by industries. This means that waste pickers, the topic of the third day of the series
“Unsustainable negligence”, have become employees of recycling plants or of businessmen.
One of the last European countries to implement an efficient recyclables collection
system, Portugal saw waste pickers almost disappear from streets in the last 20 years. Dulce
Pássaro, former Portuguese ministry of Environment, details the rite of passage of the waste
picker: “In the 90´s, in big cities, there were families collecting material in public bins. After the
legislation of the European Community passed in 1994, those people were re-qualified and
started to work at the companies of the waste industry. It was a slow transition, but
fundamental for the implementation of an environmentally proper recycling industry.
In Rio, the transition started less than one year ago, with the decision of shutting down
all the dumping sites (lixões). The goal of the state secretary of Environment is to shut down all
the open-air dumping sites until July, this year. The inclusion of four thousand waste pickers of
the Metropolitan Region into an efficient model is the challenge faced by companies and
public authorities. Nowadays, according to Comlurb, of the 3% of waste daily recycled in Rio,
waste pickers – alone or in cooperatives – are responsible for most of it (2.73%).
The end of dumping sites gives rise to a drama
The National Solid Waste Policy (law no. 12,305/2010) – which aims to change this scenario –
determines “the integration of waste pickers into actions encompassing the shared
responsibility for the life cycle of products”. In the opinion of public prosecutor Sávio
Bittencourt, president of the Brazilian Association of the Environment Prosecution Office
(Abrampa), this inclusion shall primarily prioritize the environmental efficiency. “The waste
picker does not have to die a waste picker. This individual can become a businessperson in a
new system, such as in Europe. To use the waste pickers´ cooperative as the preferential
recycling management unit concerns me as for the efficiency. To solve an environmental
problem, and at the same time a social problem, not always work.
In Rio, though, social issues are far from being solved. The force of law no. 12,305
results in the collapse of the weaker part of the recycling chain. The neighborhood of Fazenda
dos Mineiros, in São Gonçalo, experiences moments of social tension. At least 300 families,
which for decades were making a living in the dumping site of Itaoca, are now without income
upon the shutting down of the dumping site, after the opening of the Anaia Pequeno sanitary
landfill.
In Jardim Gramacho, Duque de Caxias, the fear is the same amongst the 1,200 waste
pickers – over there, the manual sorting of waste has produced 24 million BRL per year, until
last year, according to Comlurb.
The law is being ignored by local governments, says the National Movement of
Recyclables Pickers. “In São Gonçalo, the same as in Magé is taking place: over there, in 2009,
the dumping site was shut down, and waste pickers remained with no work alternative
whatsoever” – protests Custódio da Silva, one of the leaders of the movement.
The coordinator of the Recicla Rio program himself, from the State secretariat of
Environment, Jorge Pinheiro, admits that “the waste picker has the risk of being put aside in
the process”. “The challenge is to make them take part of the new management system. In
case of Gramacho, there is a possible solution, with a fund to support waste pickers”.
While waiting for funds, there are countless histories of people without work. Resident
of Favela Beira-Mar, in Caxias, Angélica Sabino, 42 years old, is a waste picker at Gramacho for
20 years, and she says she doesn´t know what to do when the dumping site is shut down,
which is scheduled to happen in July. “I started to work here to fund the treatment of my
daughter, who had heart murmurs. As those waiting in line to be seen by SUS (public health
system) doctors dye in line, I have decided to pay for a private health plan. Here, at the
dumping site, I started to make more money than as general services assistant or as a cleaning
lady”, she says.
At Fazenda dos Mineiros, a neighborhood ruled by drug dealers, poor houses made of
wood collected at the dumping site have given shelter, for 40 years, to the driving force of the
local recycling. The machine stopped in February, when the dumping site was shut off. “It is
hard to be treated as trash after spending so many years collecting raw material”, says Jandira
Albino, 57 years old. “In the dumping site, we could find a frozen chicken, some meat for the
family….”
Many former waste pickers complain they were excluded from Haztec registry
(company that manages the new landfill), and that they cannot withdraw the monthly
allowance of 200 BRL. Haztec though informed that 248 former workers who submitted their
CPF (Individual Taxpayers´ Registry document) and ID were benefited. Waste pickers also say
that the local government of São Gonçalo is not giving them the supplementary allowance of
100 BRL. The local government says it has not promised money, just a box with staple food.
Far from old dumping sites, the waste pickers, who daily collect recyclables at the
downtown, show other sides of the profession harshness. The only “animal traction vehicle”
that daily crosses avenues Presidente Vargas and Rio Branco is a tailless donkey. Men and
women make 35 BRL per night scavenging the remains at the downtown. They run against
time, between the end of working hours until the time Comlurb comes to collect the waste, in
search of PET bottles, cardboard, white paper, aluminum cans, iron and copper.
“This is exhausting”, says Beto Nascimento, who for six years collects 180 kg of
cardboard at each night of work.
The Solution of Buenos Aires
Social phenomenon in Buenos Aires after the economic crisis
Janaína Figueiredo
[email protected]
Correspondent – BUENOS AIRES
Called “cartoneros” in Buenos Aires, waste pickers became a social phenomenon after
the Argentinean economic crisis in 2001. The number of cartoneros has significantly increased,
becoming a problem for Buenos Aires government. Because of that, part of the new waste
recycling policy includes the organization of cooperatives composed of waste pickers, who
work in harmony with the new rules in town.
In recent months, the government of Buenos Aires city reinforced its recycling policy.
In addition to a campaign in the media, mainly TV, 26 containers for recyclables were spread in
the city´s neighborhoods.
In the first month of implementation, residents separated approximately 126 thousand
kg of recyclables. Local authorities estimate that until the end of this year the number of green
containers will multiply.
In addition to the media campaign, a website was created to explain the waste
recycling policy to citizens: www.jugalimpio.gob.ar/campanas. The objective of Buenos Aires
government, explained a local officer, is “to teach people how to be responsible consumers
and to choose eco-friendly products”.
Many companies operating in the Argentinean capital have also adhered to the waste
recycling policy. Currently, approximately 185 companies sort their wastes before handing
them over to some of the waste picker cooperatives. There is still the lack of a specific place
for electronic waste. The objective of the Buenos Aires government is to pass a law on the
topic, but the bill of laws submitted were not yet approved by the National Congress.