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105-499: A mudlark is someone who scavenges the banks and shores of rivers for items of value, a term used especially to describe those who scavenged this way in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The practice of searching the banks of rivers for items continues in the modern era, with newer technology such as metal detectors sometimes being employed to search for metal valuables that may have washed ashore. Mudlarks would search
210-411: A materials recovery facility , the materials must be sorted. This is done in a series of stages, many of which involve automated processes, enabling a truckload of material to be fully sorted in less than an hour. Some plants can now sort materials automatically; this is known as single-stream recycling . Automatic sorting may be aided by robotics and machine learning. In plants, a variety of materials
315-602: A certain amount of spending for recycled products; or "price preference" programs that provide larger budgets when recycled items are purchased. Additional regulations can target specific cases: in the United States, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency mandates the purchase of oil, paper, tires and building insulation from recycled or re-refined sources whenever possible. The final government regulation toward increased demand
420-445: A common practice for most of human history with recorded advocates as far back as Plato in the fourth century BC. During periods when resources were scarce, archaeological studies of ancient waste dumps show less household waste (such as ash, broken tools, and pottery), implying that more waste was recycled in place of new material. However, archaeological artefacts made from recyclable material, such as glass or metal, may neither be
525-574: A form of recycling. Materials for recycling are either delivered to a household recycling center or picked up from curbside bins, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials for manufacturing new products. In ideal implementations, recycling a material produces a fresh supply of the same material—for example, used office paper would be converted into new office paper, and used polystyrene foam into new polystyrene. Some types of materials, such as metal cans , can be remanufactured repeatedly without losing their purity. With other materials, this
630-520: A later World Bank study estimated life span to be 53 years. In Port Said , Egypt, a 1981 study showed an infant mortality rate of 1/3 among waste pickers (one out of three babies dies before reaching age one). Among the most common types of job-related injuries for waste pickers are back and hand injuries caused by lifting heavy objects with little equipment. In a study of 48 waste pickers in Santo André, Brazil, almost all workers reported pain in
735-582: A local campaign, member organizations across Latin America issued solidarity statements and pressured their national ambassadors in Uruguay to do the same. Third, LAWPN sends leaders from countries with strong waste picker movements to countries with weak movements in order to promote the development of new leadership and organizations. Fourth, LAWPN organizes global waste picker committees to make appeals for support to transnational governance organizations such as
840-458: A mapping initiative to identify organizations of or that work with waste pickers across the continent—a first step towards the development an Asian network. Several NGOs and trade unions that work with waste pickers, as well as loosely formed groups of waste pickers, were identified in Cambodia, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Thailand. In Bangladesh, Grambangla Unnayan Committee is working with
945-471: A more flexible option: Industries can meet their recycling targets at any point of their operations, or even contract out recycling in exchange for tradable credits. Opponents to these methods cite their large increase in reporting requirements, and claim that they rob the industry of flexibility. Governments have used their own purchasing power to increase recycling demand through "procurement policies". These policies are either "set-asides", which reserve
1050-431: A mudlark was usually a choice dictated by poverty and lack of skills. Work conditions were filthy and uncomfortable, as excrement and waste would wash onto the shores from the raw sewage and sometimes also the corpses of humans, cats and dogs. Mudlarks would often get cuts from broken glass left on the shore. The income generated was seldom more than meagre; but mudlarks had a degree of independence, since (subject to tides)
1155-503: A person could still claim "mudlark" as an occupation, by then it seems to have been no longer viewed as an acceptable or lawful pursuit. By 1936 the word is used merely to describe swimsuited London schoolchildren earning pocket money during the summer holidays by begging passers-by to throw coins into the Thames mud, which they then chased, to the amusement of the onlookers. More recently, metal-detectorists and other individuals searching
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#17327837715241260-598: A place within formal recycling systems. Waste pickers use many organizational formats including cooperatives, associations, companies, unions, and micro-enterprises. Despite the differences in format, most of these organizations share three primary purposes. First, by pooling capital, establishing microenterprises, and forming partnerships with business and government, waste collectors increase their selling power. Second, by securing uniforms, safety equipment, and work permits, cooperatives increase workplace dignity and safety. And third, by demanding recognition and compensation from
1365-405: A positive effect on the supply of recyclates when it specifies how and where the product can be recycled. "Recyclate" is a raw material sent to and processed in a waste recycling plant or materials-recovery facility so it can be used in the production of new materials and products. For example, plastic bottles can be made into plastic pellets and synthetic fabrics . The quality of recyclates
1470-418: A social security program that includes all the cartoneros of Buenos Aires . Additionally, they have to raise awareness among residents of the city to separate their trash so that they can collect door to door, without having direct contact with wet materials. India is home to Asia's largest waste picker movement. Self-Employed Women's Association of India , a trade union that exclusively organizes women in
1575-433: A stable supply. The post-processed material can then be sold. If profitable, this conserves the emission of greenhouse gases; if unprofitable, it increases their emission. Buy-back centres generally need government subsidies to be viable. According to a 1993 report by the U.S. National Waste & Recycling Association , it costs an average $ 50 to process a ton of material that can be resold for $ 30. Drop-off centers require
1680-563: A turnover of €24 billion. EU countries are mandated to reach recycling rates of at least 50%; leading countries are already at around 65%. The overall EU average was 39% in 2013 and is rising steadily, to 45% in 2015. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set 17 Sustainable Development Goals . Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production , specifies 11 targets "to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns". The fifth target, Target 12.5 ,
1785-471: Is a high prevalence of disease among waste pickers due to their exposure to hazardous materials such as fecal matter, paper saturated by toxic materials, bottles and containers with chemical residues, contaminated needles, and heavy metals from batteries. A study in Mexico City found the average lifespan of a dumpsite waste collector to be 39 years, compared to the national average of 69 years, though
1890-444: Is also commonly used, but many waste pickers find it demeaning due to the implied comparison with animals. A waste picker is different from a waste collector because the waste collected by the latter may be destined for a landfill or incinerator , not necessarily for a recycling facility. " Dumpster diving " generally refers to the practice of anti-consumer and freegan activists who reclaim items such as food and clothes from
1995-426: Is always hiring", waste picking provides a cushion for many who lose their jobs during times of war, crisis, and economic downturn in countries that do not have welfare systems. It is also one of the few work opportunities available to people who lack formal education or job experience. Though documentation exists of rag pickers and scrap metal collectors supplying goods to paper mills and foundries as early as
2100-463: Is an acronym for Solid Waste Collection Handling that also means clean, in the local language. This initiative empower all members. They all work, they're not merely shareholders. Among the workers, in most age groups, women constitute a bigger group than men, with a total of 78%. However, men are the majority in the youngest age group. Before joining SWaCH, most members used to work as waste pickers or itinerant waste buyers. There's also another group that
2205-766: Is and is not permitted, safety and tide tables. Occasionally, objects of archaeological value have been recovered from the Thames foreshore. Dependent on their value, these are either reported as treasure under the Treasure Act 1996 , or voluntarily submitted for analysis and review via the Portable Antiquities Scheme . A BBC article in July 2020 recommended the Thames Discovery Programme , "a group of historians and volunteers [running] guided tours" for novice mudlarks, and in 2019
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#17327837715242310-569: Is constituted by former housekeeping and cleaning workers. The predominant group of SWaCH belongs to the Scheduled Caste, although other Backward Castes, as well as the middle castes, are also represented in SWaCH. This initiative is a result of Inclusive cities project that has the objective of integrating Waste Pickers into Municipal Solid Waste Management in Pune (India). Egypt has one of
2415-484: Is defined as substantially reducing waste generation by 2030, indicated by the National Recycling Rate. In 2018, changes in the recycling industry have sparked a global "crisis". On 31 December 2017, China announced its " National Sword " policy, setting new standards for imports of recyclable material and banning materials deemed too "dirty" or "hazardous". The new policy caused drastic disruptions in
2520-621: Is helping increase slag utilization, hence reducing wastage and pollution. Economist Steven Landsburg , author of a paper entitled "Why I Am Not an Environmentalist", claimed that paper recycling actually reduces tree populations. He argues that because paper companies have incentives to replenish their forests, large demands for paper lead to large forests while reduced demand for paper leads to fewer "farmed" forests. When foresting companies cut down trees, more are planted in their place; however, such farmed forests are inferior to natural forests in several ways. Farmed forests are not able to fix
2625-487: Is illegal or unpermitted, so waste pickers commonly face harassment by police and authorities. Also, there is widespread public scorn against waste pickers due to their poverty and perceived lack of hygiene. Women are subject to greater harassment, particularly sexual harassment due to their low social status and lack of social support. One of the most extreme manifestations of such stigma occurs in Colombia , where, since
2730-445: Is likely to be recycled, so higher amounts of non-target and non-recyclable materials can reduce the quantity of recycled products. A high proportion of non-target and non-recyclable material can make it more difficult to achieve "high-quality" recycling; and if recyclate is of poor quality, it is more likely to end up being down-cycled or, in more extreme cases, sent to other recovery options or landfilled . For example, to facilitate
2835-587: Is often difficult or too expensive (compared with producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many products and materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (for example, paperboard ). Another form of recycling is the salvage of constituent materials from complex products, due to either their intrinsic value (such as lead from car batteries and gold from printed circuit boards ), or their hazardous nature (e.g. removal and reuse of mercury from thermometers and thermostats ). Reusing materials has been
2940-420: Is one of the principal challenges for the success of a long-term vision of a green economy and achieving zero waste . It generally refers to how much of it is composed of target material, versus non-target material and other non-recyclable material. Steel and other metals have intrinsically higher recyclate quality; it is estimated that two-thirds of all new steel comes from recycled steel. Only target material
3045-547: Is rarely harvested for paper because of their heterogeneity. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is subsistence farming (48% of deforestation) and commercial agriculture (32%), which is linked to food, not paper production. Other non-conventional methods of material recycling, like Waste-to-Energy (WTE) systems, have garnered increased attention in
3150-431: Is recycled product labeling. When producers are required to label their packaging with the amount of recycled material it contains (including the packaging), consumers can make more educated choices. Consumers with sufficient buying power can choose more environmentally conscious options, prompting producers to increase the recycled material in their products and increase demand. Standardized recycling labeling can also have
3255-676: Is regarded as waste. Environmental impact of slag include copper paralysis , which leads to death due to gastric hemorrhage, if ingested by humans. It may also cause acute dermatitis upon skin exposure. Toxicity may also be uptaken by crops through soil, consequently spreading animals and food sources and increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, cognitive impairment, chronic anemia, and damage to kidneys, bones, nervous system, brain and skin. Substituting gravel and grit in quarries has been more cost-effective, due to having its sources with better proximity to consumer markets. Trading between countries and establishment of blast furnaces
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3360-652: Is sorted including paper, different types of plastics, glass, metals, food scraps, and most types of batteries . A 30% increase in recycling rates has been seen in areas with these plants. In the US, there are over 300 materials recovery facilities. Initially, commingled recyclates are removed from the collection vehicle and placed on a conveyor belt spread out in a single layer. Large pieces of corrugated fiberboard and plastic bags are removed by hand at this stage, as they can cause later machinery to jam. Next, automated machinery such as disk screens and air classifiers separate
3465-578: Is the other extreme, where each material is cleaned and sorted prior to collection. It requires the least post-collection sorting and produces the purest recyclates. However, it incurs additional operating costs for collecting each material, and requires extensive public education to avoid recyclate contamination . In Oregon , USA, Oregon DEQ surveyed multi-family property managers; about half of them reported problems, including contamination of recyclables due to trespassers such as transients gaining access to collection areas. Source separation used to be
3570-407: Is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials . The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions . It can also prevent
3675-451: Is treated using inferior activities, it can release as many as 1000 different chemical substances ... including harmful neurotoxicants such as lead .” A paper in the journal Sustainable Materials & Technologies remarks upon the difficulty of managing e-waste, particularly from home automation products, which, due to their becoming obsolete at a high rate, are putting increasing strain on recycling systems, which have not adapted to meet
3780-490: Is widely considered too dirty and strenuous a job for women. During an ethnography of homeless recyclers in San Francisco , sociologist Teresa Gowan claims to have met hundreds of male waste pickers, but only four female waste pickers. Waste picking offers significant ecological, economic, and social benefits: Waste pickers not only generate social benefits, but also potential costs as well. These include: There
3885-792: The Inter-American Development Bank , the UN Convention on Climate Change , and the International Labour Organization . In Argentina , The Movement of Excluded Workers (excluded in the sense that their work is not recognized by the government and they are excluded from receiving rights) is the largest waste pickers organization. It is a social organization, independent from political parties, which brings together more than 2,000 cartoneros (waste picker) in Capital Federal and
3990-426: The minimum wage ). No women were found in the highest income groups (those earning over 10 times the minimum wage). Over the past half century, in-country migration and increased fertility rates have caused the population of cities in the developing world to mushroom. The global population of urban dwellers is expected to double between 1987 and 2015, with 90% of this growth occurring in developing countries. Much of
4095-548: The 17th century, modern waste picking did not flourish in the US and Europe until the 19th century. Just as in the developing world, the combination of industrialization and urbanization led to three trends which favored the blossoming of the informal waste collecting industry: increased generation of urban waste, increased demand for raw materials from industry, and increased numbers of urban dwellers in need of livelihoods. In that era, waste pickers were known as wharf rats, tinkers, rag and bone men , mudlarks , and ragpickers. By
4200-620: The 1970s due to rising energy costs. Recycling aluminium uses only 5% of the energy of virgin production. Glass, paper and other metals have less dramatic but significant energy savings when recycled. Although consumer electronics have been popular since the 1920s, recycling them was almost unheard of until early 1991. The first electronic waste recycling scheme was implemented in Switzerland , beginning with collection of old refrigerators, then expanding to cover all devices. When these programs were created, many countries could not deal with
4305-481: The 1980s, " social cleansing " vigilante groups, sometimes working with police complicity, have killed at least two thousand waste collectors, beggars, and prostitutes—whom they refer to as "disposables" ( desechables ). In 1992, around the peak of this activity, eleven corpses of murdered waste collectors were discovered at a university in Barranquilla . Their organs had been sold for transplants and bodies sold to
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4410-799: The ARB is one of the world's most active and established waste picker organizations. In 2013, the Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded to Nohra Padilla (representing the ARB) for her contribution to waste management and recycling in Colombia. Throughout the 1990s, powerful waste collectors associations began to form in other Latin American countries as well—most notably in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. In 2005, Brazil hosted
4515-627: The All India Kabari Mazdoor Mahasangh (AIKMM) is locked in a battle with the New Delhi Municipal Council , which closed a deal with the Hyderabad -based company, Ramky Energy and Environment Ltd to manage the waste, in effect criminalising the work of more than 100,000 unorganised waste pickers that currently sort about 20% of Delhi's garbage. The EJOLT project made a video on what they call
4620-677: The Delhi waste war. Waste pickers in Thailand have also organized, including the Khon Kaen scavengers . In Delhi, the NGO Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group makes the work of waste pickers safer (by providing gloves and mouth masks) and it also provides for a steady source of income (by paying a monthly wage to the waste pickers). An Indian waste pickers union known as KKPKP recently carried out
4725-670: The Zabaleen to collectively defend their livelihood. The South African Waste Picker Association (SWAPA) was constituted in July 2009, which included 100 waste pickers from 26 landfills across the country. SWAPA currently (2024) has a membership of between 4000 and 6000 members drawn from all of South Africa’s nine provinces. There are no present plans to create an African waste picker's network, but Shack/Slum Dwellers International organized meetings between waste picker leaders in Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa. Recyclable Recycling
4830-507: The back, legs, shoulder, arms, and hands. Waste pickers who work in open dumps are exposed to large amounts of toxic fumes, and face other severe threats including being run over by trucks and caught in surface subsidence, trash slides, and fires. On 10 July 2000, several hundred waste pickers were killed by a trash slide from a huge garbage mountain after monsoon rains at an open dump in Payatas , Philippines . Most waste picking activity
4935-598: The book Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem was first published. The author had considerable experience in searching the banks of the river for historical artefacts. Rag and Bone: A Family History of What We've Thrown Away by Lisa Woollett (2020) is another examination of the subject. The Museum of London is happy with the outcome of the mudlarks that search the Thames. Finds Liaison Officer, Stuart Wyatt, said "New, interesting artefacts are constantly being discovered by mudlarks and brought to
5040-491: The compaction of materials can also make this more difficult. Despite improvements in technology and quality of recyclate, sorting facilities are still not 100% effective in separating materials. When materials are stored outside, where they can become wet, can also cause problems for re-processors. Further sorting steps may be required to satisfactorily reduce the amount of non-target and non-recyclable material. A number of systems have been implemented to collect recyclates from
5145-586: The container is returned to a collection point. These programs have succeeded in creating an average 80% recycling rate. Despite such good results, the shift in collection costs from local government to industry and consumers has created strong opposition in some areas —for example, where manufacturers bear the responsibility for recycling their products. In the European Union, the WEEE Directive requires producers of consumer electronics to reimburse
5250-820: The country that collects the most robust official statistics on waste pickers, estimates that nearly a quarter million of its citizens engage in waste picking. Waste picker incomes vary vastly by location, form of work, and gender. Some waste pickers live in extreme poverty, but many others earn multiple times their country's minimum wage. Recent studies indicate that waste pickers in Belgrade , Serbia , earn approximately US$ 3 per day, while waste pickers in Cambodia typically earn $ 1 per day. Official statistics in Brazil indicate that men earn more than women, regardless of age. Approximately two-thirds of Brazil's waste pickers are men overall, but this proportion jumps to 98% in high income waste picker groups (those earning between 3–4 times
5355-502: The crisis. According to the WHO (2023), “Every year millions of electrical and electronic devices are discarded ... a threat to the environment and to human health if they are not treated, disposed of, and recycled appropriately. Common items ... include computers ... e-waste are recycled using environmentally unsound techniques and are likely stored in homes and warehouses, dumped, exported or recycled under inferior conditions. When e-waste
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#17327837715245460-417: The demand for recycled materials: minimum recycled content mandates, utilization rates, procurement policies, and recycled product labeling . Both minimum recycled content mandates and utilization rates increase demand by forcing manufacturers to include recycling in their operations. Content mandates specify that a certain percentage of a new product must consist of recycled material. Utilization rates are
5565-580: The early 19th century to at least 1914. Industrialization spurred demand for affordable materials. In addition to rags, ferrous scrap metals were coveted as they were cheaper to acquire than virgin ore. Railroads purchased and sold scrap metal in the 19th century, and the growing steel and automobile industries purchased scrap in the early 20th century. Many secondary goods were collected, processed and sold by peddlers who scoured dumps and city streets for discarded machinery, pots, pans, and other sources of metal. By World War I , thousands of such peddlers roamed
5670-436: The economic system. There are some ISO standards related to recycling, such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001 :2015 for environmental management control of recycling practice. Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, cardboard, metal, plastic, tires , textiles , batteries, and electronics . The composting and other reuse of biodegradable waste —such as food and garden waste —is also
5775-424: The efforts of environmentalists . In 1985 only one roadside recycling program existed in the United States. By 1998, there were 9,000 such programs and 12,000 recyclable drop-off centers. Laws were passed in some states making it illegal not to recycle. Second, changes in the political economy including the loss of manufacturing jobs, cutbacks to government employment, and the roll back of the welfare state increased
5880-417: The environment. Informal waste collectors help mitigate this harm by collecting recyclable materials by foot or in pushcarts, tricycles, donkey carts, horse carts, and pickup trucks. On the supply side, urbanization has facilitated the expansion of waste picking by creating a large pool of unemployed and underemployed residents with few alternative means of earning a livelihood. Known as "the one industry that
5985-558: The first known Latin American waste picker's organization, Cooperativa Antioqueña de Recolectores de Subproductos , was created in Medellín , Colombia. The Colombian waste pickers movement did not emerge as a veritable political force until 1990, however, when four cooperatives who had been fighting the closure of a landfill united as the Waste Collector's Association of Bogotá ( Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá , ARB). Today
6090-683: The first meeting of the Latin American Waste Picker Network (LAWPN)—an organization that now represents waste pickers movements from 16 countries. LAWPN has four key functions. First, it facilitates exchanges of knowledge, technology, and strategies between member organizations through regional conventions, country-to-country delegations, telecommunications, and strategic reports. Second, it organizes transnational solidarity to aid in local battles. For example, when waste pickers in Montevideo , Uruguay , needed support in
6195-513: The foreshore for historic artefacts have described themselves as "mudlarks". In London, a licence is required from the Port of London Authority for this activity and it is illegal to search for or remove artefacts of any kind from the foreshore without one. The regulations changed in 2016, making Ted Sandling's popular book London in Fragments out of date in this respect. The PLA state that "All
6300-542: The foreshore in the UK has an owner. Metal detecting, searching or digging is not a public right and as such it needs the permission of the landowner. The PLA and the Crown Estate are the largest land owners of Thames foreshore and jointly administer a permit which allows metal detecting, searching or digging." The PLA site has much useful information for permit holders including maps, rules & regulations about where digging
6405-403: The form that a certain percentage of a material must be diverted from the city's waste stream by a target date. The city is responsible for working to meet this target. Container deposit legislation mandates refunds for the return of certain containers—typically glass, plastic and metal. When a product in such a container is purchased, a small surcharge is added that the consumer can reclaim when
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#17327837715246510-423: The general waste stream, occupying different places on the spectrum of trade-off between public convenience and government ease and expense. The three main categories of collection are drop-off centers, buy-back centers and curbside collection. About two-thirds of the cost of recycling is incurred in the collection phase. Curbside collection encompasses many subtly different systems, which differ mostly on where in
6615-571: The global recycling market, and reduced the prices of scrap plastic and low-grade paper. Exports of recyclable materials from G7 countries to China dropped dramatically, with many shifting to countries in southeast Asia. This generated significant concern about the recycling industry's practices and environmental sustainability . The abrupt shift caused countries to accept more materials than they could process, and raised fundamental questions about shipping waste from developed countries to countries with few environmental regulations—a practice that predated
6720-458: The goals desired." Recycling—or "salvage", as it was then usually known—was a major issue for governments during World War II , where financial constraints and significant material shortages made it necessary to reuse goods and recycle materials. These resource shortages caused by the world wars , and other such world-changing events, greatly encouraged recycling. It became necessary for most homes to recycle their waste, allowing people to make
6825-538: The hours they worked were entirely at their own discretion and they also kept everything they made as a result of their own labour. Henry Mayhew , in his book London Labour and the London Poor ; Extra Volume , 1851, provides a detailed description of this category, and in a later edition of the same work includes the "Narrative of a Mudlark", an interview with a thirteen-year-old boy, Martin Prior. Although in 1904
6930-603: The informal economy and has membership of over one million, began organizing waste pickers in the late 1970s. SEWA has created nearly ninety waste pickers cooperatives, which members use to gain collective work contracts and access to credit, training, and markets. One of Asia's largest waste picker associations is The Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers (AIW), a national network of 35 organizations in 22 cities. The AIW facilitates peers support, advocacy and cross-learning among waste pickers, iterant buyers, and support NGOs. Also in India,
7035-410: The key issues discussed was the global trend of privatization and concentration of waste management systems. Normally, privatization is thought of as the handover of government functions to the private sector, but in this case, privatization often means the transference of services formerly provided by informal waste collectors to private firms. As waste streams have expanded due to increased consumption,
7140-537: The large-scale estimates that do exist are mainly extrapolations based on very small original research samples. In his book, "The World's Scavengers" (2007), Martin Medina provides a methodological guide to researching waste picking. In 1988, the World Bank estimated that 1–2% of the global population subsists by waste picking. A 2010 study estimates that there are 1.5 million waste pickers in India alone. Brazil,
7245-504: The late 19th century both invented new materials (e.g. Bakelite in 1907) and promised to transform valueless into valuable materials. Proverbially, you could not make a silk purse of a sow's ear —until the US firm Arthur D. Little published in 1921 "On the Making of Silk Purses from Sows' Ears", its research proving that when "chemistry puts on overalls and gets down to business [...] new values appear. New and better paths are opened to reach
7350-547: The medical school for dissection (Medina 2009, 155). Traditionally, scholars assumed that informal workers such as waste pickers could not collectively organize due to structural barriers such as lack of legal protection, widely dispersed worksites, porous borders to their profession, a culture of independence and individualism, lack of institutional experience, and lack of money and time to build organizations. Nonetheless, in recent decades waste pickers across Latin America, Asia, and Africa have begun collectively organizing to win
7455-613: The membership despite the fact that they represent only a third of the total waste picking population. Beginning in the 1990s, waste picker organizations in many parts of the world began uniting into regional, national, and transnational coalitions to increase their political voice and economic leverage. In March 2008, delegates from 30 countries gathered in Bogotá , Colombia, for the first World Conference (and Third Latin American Conference) of Waste Pickers (WIEGO 2008). One of
7560-469: The mid-20th century waste picking decreased, as waste management industries were formalized, and welfare states decreased the poor's reliance on informal recycling. Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, informal recycling in parts of the United States and Western Europe once again began to mushroom. Two factors fueled the boom: First, the demand for recycling surged due to the increased waste stream, declining room in landfills , new recycling technologies, and
7665-620: The most of what was available. Recycling household materials also meant more resources were left available for war efforts. Massive government campaigns, such as the National Salvage Campaign in Britain and the Salvage for Victory campaign in the United States, occurred in every fighting nation, urging citizens to donate metal, paper, rags, and rubber as a patriotic duty. A considerable investment in recycling occurred in
7770-495: The muddy shores of the River Thames at low tide for anything that could be sold – sometimes, when occasion arose, pilfering from river traffic as well. By at least the late 18th century, people dwelling near the river could scrape a subsistence living this way. Mudlarks were usually either youngsters aged between 8 and 15, or the robust elderly, and though most mudlarks were male, girls and women were also scavengers. Becoming
7875-799: The museum. Finds from the Thames are still giving us new information and adding to the collective knowledge. These objects are continuing to enhance our understanding of London’s history and the lives of Londoners who inhabited the city over the last two millennia." Ultimately, making mudlarks important workers of the museums and archives. Waste picker A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominantly in developing countries , but increasingly in post-industrial countries as well. Various forms of waste picking have been practiced since antiquity, but modern traditions of waste picking took root during industrialization in
7980-426: The new population has settled in urban slums and squatter settlements, which have expanded rapidly with no central planning. The United Nations Habitat Report found that nearly one billion people worldwide live in slums, about a third of the world's urban dwellers. The rapid urbanization greatly increased the demand for informal waste collecting services, as cities lacked the infrastructure and resources to collect
8085-846: The nineteenth century. Over the past half-century, waste picking has expanded vastly in the developing world due to urbanization , toxic colonialism and the global waste trade . Many cities only provide solid waste collection. Many terms are used to refer to people who salvage recyclables from the waste stream for sale or personal consumption. In English, these terms include rag picker , reclaimer , informal resource recoverer , binner , recycler , poacher , salvager , scavenger , and waste picker ; in Spanish cartonero , chatarrero , pepenador , clasificador , minador and reciclador ; and in Portuguese catador de materiais recicláveis . A more contemporary term, focusing on
8190-524: The original object nor resemble it, with the consequence that a successful ancient recycling economy can become invisible when recycling is synonymous with re-melting rather than reuse. In pre-industrial times, there is evidence of scrap bronze and other metals being collected in Europe and melted down for continuous reuse. Paper recycling was first recorded in 1031 when Japanese shops sold repulped paper. In Britain dust and ash from wood and coal fires
8295-526: The outcome of the professional activity, is "informal sector recycling". However, the word "informal" can be partly misleading, because in practice a continuum between total informality and proper organization in taxed registered formal activities may be encountered. In 2008, participants of the First World Conference of Waste Pickers chose to use the term "waste picker" for English usage to facilitate global communication. The term "scavenger"
8400-407: The preferred method due to the high cost of sorting commingled (mixed waste) collection. However, advances in sorting technology have substantially lowered this overhead, and many areas that had developed source separation programs have switched to what is called co-mingled collection . At buy-back centers, separated, cleaned recyclates are purchased, providing a clear incentive for use and creating
8505-532: The process the recyclates are sorted and cleaned. The main categories are mixed waste collection, commingled recyclables, and source separation. A waste collection vehicle generally picks up the waste. In mixed waste collection, recyclates are collected mixed with the rest of the waste, and the desired materials are sorted out and cleaned at a central sorting facility. This results in a large amount of recyclable waste (especially paper) being too soiled to reprocess, but has advantages as well: The city need not pay for
8610-574: The properties of recycled waste plastic and sand bricks. The composite pavers can be sold at 100% profit while employing workers at 1.5× the minimum wage in the West African region, where distributed recycling has the potential to produce 19 million pavement tiles from 28,000 tons of plastic water sachets annually in Ghana , Nigeria , and Liberia . This has also been done with COVID19 masks. Once commingled recyclates are collected and delivered to
8715-402: The quality of final recyclate streams, and require extra efforts to discard those materials at later stages in the recycling process. Different collection systems can induce different levels of contamination. When multiple materials are collected together, extra effort is required to sort them into separate streams and can significantly reduce the quality of the final products. Transportation and
8820-636: The ranks of the poor, working poor, and homeless—thus there were more people disposed to wastepick as a full-time profession or supplemental job. American waste pickers predominantly collect cans, bottles, and cardboard. Many immigrants work as waste pickers because language and documentation barriers limit their opportunities to work elsewhere. Many homeless people also work as waste pickers—some describe it as their only alternative to panhandling . Some recyclers use vans to increase their yield while others work on foot with carts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most American waste pickers are male, as waste picking
8925-569: The recent past due to the polarizing nature of their emissions. While viewed as a sustainable method of capturing energy from material waste feedstocks by many, others have cited numerous explanations for why the technology has not been scaled globally. For a recycling program to work, a large, stable supply of recyclable material is crucial. Three legislative options have been used to create such supplies: mandatory recycling collection, container deposit legislation , and refuse bans. Mandatory collection laws set recycling targets for cities, usually in
9030-897: The recyclates by weight, splitting lighter paper and plastic from heavier glass and metal. Cardboard is removed from mixed paper, and the most common types of plastic— PET (#1) and HDPE (#2)—are collected, so these materials can be diverted into the proper collection channels. This is usually done by hand; but in some sorting centers, spectroscopic scanners are used to differentiate between types of paper and plastic based on their absorbed wavelengths. Plastics tend to be incompatible with each other due to differences in chemical composition ; their polymer molecules repel each other, similar to oil and water. Strong magnets are used to separate out ferrous metals such as iron, steel and tin cans . Non-ferrous metals are ejected by magnetic eddy currents : A rotating magnetic field induces an electric current around aluminum cans, creating an eddy current inside
9135-485: The recyclers' costs. An alternative way to increase the supply of recyclates is to ban the disposal of certain materials as waste, often including used oil , old batteries, tires , and garden waste. This can create a viable economy for the proper disposal of the products. Care must be taken that enough recycling services exist to meet the supply, or such bans can create increased illegal dumping . Four forms of legislation have also been used to increase and maintain
9240-409: The recycling needs posed by this type of product. Copper slag is obtained when copper and nickel ores are recovered from their source ores using a pyrometallurgical process, and these ores usually contain other elements which include iron, cobalt, silica, and alumina. An estimate of 2.2–3 tons of copper slag is generated per ton of copper produced, resulting in around 24.6 tons of slag per year, which
9345-592: The recycling process. The 2000s saw a boom in both the sales of electronic devices and their growth as a waste stream: In 2002, e-waste grew faster than any other type of waste in the EU. This spurred investment in modern automated facilities to cope with the influx, especially after strict laws were implemented in 2003. As of 2014, the European Union had about 50% of world share of waste and recycling industries, with over 60,000 companies employing 500,000 people and
9450-586: The remanufacturing of clear glass products, there are tight restrictions for colored glass entering the re-melt process. Another example is the downcycling of plastic, where products such as plastic food packaging are often downcycled into lower quality products, and do not get recycled into the same plastic food packaging. The quality of recyclate not only supports high-quality recycling, but it can also deliver significant environmental benefits by reducing, reusing, and keeping products out of landfills . High-quality recycling can support economic growth by maximizing
9555-428: The separate collection of recyclates, no public education is needed, and any changes to the recyclability of certain materials are implemented where sorting occurs. In a commingled or single-stream system , recyclables are mixed but kept separate from non-recyclable waste. This greatly reduces the need for post-collection cleaning, but requires public education on what materials are recyclable. Source separation
9660-545: The sheer quantity of e-waste , or its hazardous nature, and began to export the problem to developing countries without enforced environmental legislation. (For example, recycling computer monitors in the United States costs 10 times more than in China.) Demand for electronic waste in Asia began to grow when scrapyards found they could extract valuable substances such as copper , silver , iron , silicon , nickel , and gold during
9765-486: The soil as quickly as natural forests. This can cause widespread soil erosion and often requiring large amounts of fertilizer to maintain the soil, while containing little tree and wild-life biodiversity compared to virgin forests. Also, the new trees planted are not as big as the trees that were cut down, and the argument that there would be "more trees" is not compelling to forestry advocates when they are counting saplings. In particular, wood from tropical rainforests
9870-512: The state for their environmental and economic contributions, cooperatives increase members' political might. These three functions—political influence, workplace dignity and safety, and increased earnings—are mutually reinforcing, like legs on a stool. Some waste pickers have created "women's only" organizations, which seek to combat gender-based discrimination at worksites and in communities. A study in Brazil indicates that women are heavily overrepresented even in coed organizations, making up 56% of
9975-678: The streets of American cities, taking advantage of market forces to recycle post-consumer materials into industrial production. Manufacturers of beverage bottles, including Schweppes , began offering refundable recycling deposits in Great Britain and Ireland around 1800. An official recycling system with refundable deposits for bottles was established in Sweden in 1884, and for aluminum beverage cans in 1982; it led to recycling rates of 84–99%, depending on type (glass bottles can be refilled around 20 times). New chemical industries created in
10080-469: The suburbs, specifically in the neighborhoods of Lanús and Lomas de Zamora . After years of sacrifice and struggle, they managed to improve their working conditions. They have established a more logistical system—they no longer travel by hanging off of trucks, they have obtained a work incentive and uniforms, and lastly they have founded a nursery for 160 children, some of whom worked in the past as cartoneros. However, they still have to advance in designing
10185-417: The totality of wastes generated by their inhabitants. Despite spending 30–50% of operation budgets on waste management, developing world cities today collect only 50–80% of refuse generated by inhabitants. Residents and businesses often resort to burning garbage or disposing of it in streets, rivers, vacant lots, and open dumps . This is a source of air, land, and water pollution that threatens human health and
10290-531: The value of waste material. Higher income levels from the sale of quality recyclates can return value significant to local governments, households and businesses. Pursuing high-quality recycling can also promote consumer and business confidence in the waste and resource management sector, and may encourage investment in it. There are many actions along the recycling supply chain, each of which can affect recyclate quality. Waste producers who place non-target and non-recyclable wastes in recycling collections can affect
10395-424: The waste management industry is becoming increasingly lucrative. Governments around the world are granting private companies monopolies on waste management systems, meaning that the cooperatives' survival hinges on building political and economic alliances needed to win contracts—often an uphill battle given authorities' distrust of waste collectors and the cooperatives' lack of capital for modern machinery. In 1962,
10500-446: The waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution (from incineration ) and water pollution (from landfilling ). Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the " Reduce , Reuse , and Recycle" waste hierarchy . It promotes environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in
10605-414: The waste picker community at Matuail Waste Dumpsite of Dhaka City Corporation . A daycare centre and a non-formal primary school has been established for the child waste pickers where 112 child waste pickers are given early childhood care and education. Women waste pickers of Matuail has formed a Waste Pickers' cooperative. In Pune (India) there are a worker cooperative of Waste Pickers, called SWaCH. SWaCH
10710-892: The waste producer to carry recyclates to a central location—either an installed or mobile collection station or the reprocessing plant itself. They are the easiest type of collection to establish but suffer from low and unpredictable throughput. For some waste materials such as plastic, recent technical devices called recyclebots enable a form of distributed recycling called DRAM ( distributed recycling additive manufacturing ). Preliminary life-cycle analysis (LCA) indicates that such distributed recycling of HDPE to make filament for 3D printers in rural regions consumes less energy than using virgin resin, or using conventional recycling processes with their associated transportation. Another form of distributed recycling mixes waste plastic with sand to make bricks in Africa . Several studies have looked at
10815-667: The waste stream as a form of protest against consumer culture . "Waste picking" generally refers to activity motivated purely by economic need. There is little reliable data about the number and demographics of waste pickers worldwide. Most academic research on waste pickers is qualitative rather than quantitative. Systematic large-scale data collection is difficult due to the profession's informal nature, porous borders, seasonally fluctuating workforce, and widely dispersed and mobile worksites. Also, many researchers are reluctant to produce quantitative data out of fear that it might be used to justify crackdowns on waste picking by authorities. Thus,
10920-529: The world's most well-established and robust informal recycling systems. The labor is done for the most part by the Zabaleen (informal waste collectors), a predominantly Coptic Christian community, which in the 1940s began collecting garbage—work viewed as impure by Egypt's Muslim majority. In 2003, the Zabaleen's existence and way of life came under threat when Cairo authorities awarded annual contracts $ 50 to three multinational garbage disposal companies, pushing
11025-638: Was collected by " dustmen " and downcycled as a base material for brick making. These forms of recycling were driven by the economic advantage of obtaining recycled materials instead of virgin material, and the need for waste removal in ever-more-densely populated areas. In 1813, Benjamin Law developed the process of turning rags into " shoddy " and " mungo " wool in Batley, Yorkshire, which combined recycled fibers with virgin wool . The West Yorkshire shoddy industry in towns such as Batley and Dewsbury lasted from
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