Waste pickers have been described as the “hidden heroes” in the drive to tackle the global plastic pollution epidemic
The International Labour Organization estimates that more than 20 million people around the world earn an income from collecting, sorting and selling materials for recycling or reuse. The vast majority of them live in the Global South, and they are responsible for collecting 60% of all the plastic that gets recycled globally.
There are few countries that are so dependent on waste pickers for tackling plastic pollution as Brazil. According to Brazil’s Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), informal workers, known as catadores, collect almost 90% of all recycled material in the country.
But with only 1% of plastic waste, and 4% of solid waste ever getting recycled, Latin America’s largest economy is a global laggard, as well as being the fourth-largest plastic producer in the world.
Maria Accioly, a specialist in circular economy at Rio de Janeiro-based non-profit BVRio, said part of the challenge in lifting recycling rates is finding ways to increase payments to informal waste collectors.
According to IPEA, garbage collectors earn an average monthly income of only $211, far below the minimum wage of $275.
Accioly points to the Fishing for Litter project, a partnership between BV Rio, Ogyre, an Italian social enterprise specializing in collecting waste from the oceans, and Ocyan, an energy company that operates in Brazil and abroad.
The project provides stable incomes to fishermen in Guanabara Bay, a spot known for being extremely polluted in Rio de Janeiro, if they spend part of their time collecting litter instead of fish. Although they only collect two days a week, the fishermen are guaranteed to earn Brazil’s minimum monthly wage, and further incentivized to hit waste-collection targets.
Another Brazilian startup, Green Mining, is paying waste collectors a minimum wage and guarantees their labor rights.
Rodrigo Oliveira, chief executive and co-founder of Green Mining, said it is contradictory that workers employed by multinational companies to extract virgin raw materials earn decent wages and are provided protective clothing while workers collecting recyclable material are not.