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A scavenger pouring water onto the paper she has collected, in order to increase the weight of, and thus the profit made from, her collection, in Hong Kong.

Scavenging in Jakarta

A waste picker, recycler, binner, informal resource recoverer, or a scavenger, is a person who picks out recyclable elements from mixed waste wherever it may be temporarily accessible or disposed of ^[1]. A person who scavenges for junk^[2], food^[3] , materials, or other items is also referred to as a scavenger.

The socioeconomic conditions prevalent in Third World cities differ markedly from those in industrialized countries. Third World cities are experiencing rapid urbanization brought about by fast population growth, as well as high immigration rates. Urbanization often takes place as the expansion or creation of new slum areas and squatter settlements. Typically, these settlements grow organically and lack any planning, resulting in twisting and narrow streets, as well as in the occupation of environmentally sensitive and disaster-prone areas, such as wetlands, river beds, creeks, flooding plains, and steep slopes.

The physical characteristics of Third World cities, their rapid expansion, and the lack of resources to provide them with the necessary infrastructure and urban services translate into an insufficient collection of the wastes generated, as well as their improper disposal on the streets, vacant lots and in municipal open dumps. Most Third World cities do not collect the totality of wastes they generate. Despite spending 30 – 50% of their operational budgets on waste management, Third World cities collect only between 50 and 80% of the refuse generated.

Low-income neighborhoods, slums, and squatter settlements constitute the areas where municipal collection of wastes often does not exist. Residents of areas without refuse collection may resort to dumping their garbage in the nearest vacant lot, river, or simply burn it in their backyards. The improper disposal of solid wastes constitutes a source of land, air and water pollution, and poses risks to human health and the environment. Third World cities, preoccupied with extending waste collection and with improving final disposal, generally lack recycling programs. This paper analyzes the informal recycling activities carried out by scavenger cooperatives in Asia and Latin America.^[4]

[edit] Work method

Waste pickers today often work alone, seeking financial value of the recyclable elements to sell or use. They are usually unequipped to disassemble the products they find on dump sites.^[5] Often this translates into increased pollution of the environment and poisoning of the body.^[6] For appropriate disassembly, waste pickers require environmental suits, the appropriate tools for disassembly and should only focus on products they can effectively dissassemble properly with these tools.

Waste pickers may also be employed in material recovery facilities or mechanical biological treatment systems to manually recover recyclables as opposed to automated systems.

[edit] Terminology

A waste picker^[7] is different from a waste collector, the waste collected by the latter may be destined to the landfill or to the incinerator, not necessarily for recycling. Developing nations depend on rag pickers to reduce the waste reaching landfills.

[edit] Etymology

Scavenger is an alteration of scavager, from Middle English skawager meaning "customs collector," from skawage meaning "customs," from Old North French escauwage meaning "inspection," from escauwer meaning "to inspect," of Germanic origin; akin to Old English scEawian meaning "to look at", and modern English "show" (with semantic drift).

The word scavenger when being used to refer to human beings has negative connotations, conjuring up images of low-class or poor people who collect junk because they cannot afford the proper materials they need.

However, it need not have this negative connotation. It may also be used to refer to people that scavenge the remains of broken down cars and reuse the parts. A scavenger may be merely your happy-go-lucky junk collector who has a garage full of broken chainsaws and Corrado parts awaiting fix. In this usage, it is not altogether different from its use in a biological or zoological context for an animal's role in the environment, where the word obviously does not carry such connotations.

[edit] In different countries/cities

[edit] Buenos Aires, Argentina

In 2002, the Argentine Census Bureau, estimated that over 44% of the working force was directly associated with the informal labour sector ^[8]. Decades of poor governance, labour market reforms and structural adjustment programmes led to the 1999-2002 Argentine Economic Crisis. In 2000, amidst the financial chaos, there were an estimated 40,000 cartoneros (informal resource recovers) operating in Greater Buenos Aires ^[4]. Consequently, Reynals cites that 100,000 people live directly off the income generated from the cartoneros^[9]. Contemporary figures cite that there are five recycling cooperatives in Buenos Aires, directly employing 110 persons^[10]. Unfortunately there is no recent data to suggest if the current population size of the cartoneros has altered significantly since 2000/02. One sizable cooperative operating in Buenos Aires is El Ceibo. This cooperative employs 40 persons that collect and sort waste from over 900 homes in the affluent Palermo district^[10].

[edit] Cairo, Egypt

In Cairo, waste pickers are called "zebaleen".^[11] Most of them live in Mokattam, a garbage village on the out-skirts of the city. Another sub-group of waste pickers exclusively pick wild Cannabis for larger profits, which is usually sold to tourists. At present, organizations such as the Association for the Protection of the Environment are helping the zebaleen-community to be more efficient in the collection of the materials and the sale thereof.^[12]

[edit] Managua, Nicaragua

In La Chureca, the city garbage dump in Managua, Nicaragua, thousands of scavengers live in and around the dump. In many cases, their only source of income is picking through garbage looking for recyclables and valuables.

[edit] Paris, France

Paris has a large underground society of scavengers, known as les glaneurs from the medieval custom of gleaning. They were the focus of a report by Martin Hirsch, France's High Commissioner for Active Solidarity Against Poverty.^[13]

[edit] Victoria, British Columbia

There is a population of impoverished and socially excluded individuals in Victoria, whose livelihood depends on the collection of refundable beverage containers from dumpsters. The value redeemed from refundable bottles is an important source of income for impoverished individuals, many of whom are homeless and some who identify themselves as Aboriginals in North America. As scavenging through garbage bins remains an illegal activity in British Columbia, their actions are not without confrontation. Frequent encounters with police lead to fines or arrests; also, humiliating them is a common reaction of the community at large. The binning activity, accepted by the government and the community, provides the ability for marginalised individuals to become independent through earning an income without having to resort to begging or crime. Organising informal recyclers into cooperatives and social enterprises can significantly improve their working and living conditions, build their capacity to network and collaborate with businesses, industry, and government, and stimulate community environmental awareness of waste reduction and selective collection, among other benefits. Cooperative recycling practices can be part of an integrated strategy to reduce urban poverty and environmental contamination.^[14]

[edit] Cooperatives

Within a number of large cites, such as São Paulo and Buenos Aires, recyclers have opted to come together, pool capital, and create cooperatives. Some of these are done with the help of micro-financing. These cooperatives empowers the recyclers, increasing their selling power. Some cooperatives are able to purchase such capital as warehouses, transportation, and compactors.

[edit] Participatory Sustainable Waste Management

Participatory sustainable waste management (PSWM) presents on option available for dealing with safe and non-contaminating waste; in this case, solid recyclable waste, which can be used as a rich resource for income-generation. By collecting recyclable material, communities are able to boost their personal incomes while also contributing to a more healthy and sustainable local environment. As a response to poverty and the increasing value of recyclables, the number of people involved in such ‘waste picking’ is growing in many cities across the globe, particularly in large metropolitan areas such as São Paulo and Vancouver.

The purpose of PSWM is to help expand participatory action research processes and to improve the organization of recyclers. This will be done through capacity building, strengthening organizational structures, increasing awareness, adding value to recyclables by increasing the effectiveness and the safety during the collection, separation, stocking and collective sale of recyclables. In the long term, PSWM aims to improve the urban environment in this area through participatory waste management.

PSWM projects help structure, organize and strengthen cooperatives, associations and community groups involved in recycling, by training, generation of knowledge and exchange of experiences on cooperativism, micro-credit and the practice of solidary economy. PSWM helps to increase responsible consumption and to reduce the generation of waste.^[15]

[edit] Occupational Health Issues

The collection of recyclables is a widespread activity among urban poor, particularly in countries with large socio-economic disparities. The health of recyclers is at risk because of unsafe working conditions, socio-economic exclusion, and stigmatization. In 2005 an in-depth socio-economic survey of 48 informal waste collectors was taken in Santo André, Brazil. Almost all workers reported body pain or soreness in the back, legs, shoulders, and arms. Injuries, particularly involving the hands, are frequent. Flu and bronchitis are common, and one recycler had contracted hepatitis B. Policy makers at all government levels need to address the pressing health issues affecting large numbers of informal recyclers in Brazil and abroad. Recyclers need to be involved in the design of waste management policies, and the public must be educated about the important environmental service these people provide.^[16]

[edit] See also

• Dumpster diving
• Rag and bone man
• Junk man

[edit] References

1. ^ Solid Waste Management Glossary
2. ^ "[http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/feb/08/yehey/top_stories/20090208top5.html Del, 8: ‘Sometimes I hear the devil whisper to me’]". The Manila Times. Manila Times Publishing. February 8^th 2009. http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/feb/08/yehey/top_stories/20090208top5.html. Retrieved February 9^th 2009. 
3. ^ Perkins, Marguerite (July 19^th 1945). "If You Think It's Hot Here, You Should Visit Iran". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i9UKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wE4DAAAAIBAJ&dq=poor%20eat%20garbage&pg=7119%2C4366874. Retrieved February 9^th 2009. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Medina, M. (2000). "Scavenger cooperatives in Asia and Latin America.". Resources 31: 51–69. 
5. ^ Waste pickers uneqquiped for product disassembly
6. ^ Health risks for waste pickers
7. ^ "Flintshire fundraiser's trip to help Nicaragua's rubbish dump scavengers". Evening Leader. North Wales Newspapers. February 9^th YEAR. http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Flintshire-fundraisers-trip-to-help.4960147.jp. Retrieved February 9^th 2009. 
8. ^ Whitson, R. (2007). "Beyond the Crisis: Economic globalization and informal work in urban Journal of Latin American Geography". Journal of Latin American Geography 6 (2): 121–136. 
9. ^ Reynals, C. (2002). "De Cartoneros a Recuperadores Urbanos.". Respuestas de la Sociedad Civil a la Emegencia Social: Brasil y Argentina. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Blugerman, G. B. a. L. (2006). "Recover them from Oblivion. Recover the Community's Ability to Produce: Cristina Lescano and El Ceibo.". ReVista 28: 25–28. 
11. ^ Daniszewski, Hank (February 6^th 2009). "Waste not, want not". London Free Press. The London Free Press. http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/2009/02/06/8285131-sun.html. Retrieved February 9^th 2009. 
12. ^ Zebaleen info
13. ^ Sage, Adam (February 9^th 2009). "Scavenger army goes to waste as credit crunch bites". Times News Service. Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5689628.ece. Retrieved February 9^th 2009. 
14. ^ Gutberlet, J., Tremblay, C., Taylor, E., & Divakarannair, N. (2009). "Who are our informal recyclers? An inquiry to uncover crisis and potential in Victoria, Canada" (PDF). Local Environment 14 (8): 733–747. http://pswm.uvic.ca/en/_assets/publications/Gutberlet%20etal2009_InformalRecyclersVictoria.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 
15. ^ * Participatory Sustainable Waste Management. (November 13, 2007). Retrieved 2009, October 23, from http://pswm.uvic.ca/en/welcome/index.html
16. ^ Gutberlet, Jutta. (5 June 1997). "Informal Recycling and Occupational Health in Santo André, Brazil" (PDF). International Journal of Environmental Health Research 18 (1): 1–15. http://cbrl.uvic.ca/en/_assets/publications/Gutberlet_Recycing%20and%20Health.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 

[edit] External links

• Scavenger Cooperatives in Asia and Latin America (PDF)
• Chintan is an environmental research and action group uniting wastepickers

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