1/29/2024 0 Comments Garbage collection“It’s a service being done for free” to local governments, says Sonia Dias, global waste specialist with WIEGO, an international advocacy organization for women workers. Waste pickers do the work instead, earning only what local industries pay for the materials. In some Latin American countries, up to 96 percent of reusable garbage ends up in landfills because recycling programs are nonexistent. In countries without formal waste management systems, their role is even more vital. Collectors keep millions of additional recyclables out of landfills every year. That rate drops to 5 percent for plastic, including water bottles. In New York City, the sanitation department collects only about 28 percent of the cans that could be recycled. Waste pickers are crucial to keeping garbage manageable. Sure We Can serves about 1,200 recyclers, who redeem roughly 12 million cans at the organization’s headquarters annually, generating an estimated $800,000 for this community. New York City does not track how many people make a living from waste picking, but one rough estimate puts the total around 8,000. When she lost her job in the late 2000s, she became a full-time recycler, providing for her four children with the $80 she earned each day. Soon, she was wheeling a cart around Brooklyn on weekends, selling empties to intermediaries who redeem them for cash at recycling centers. She began collecting recyclables to supplement that meager income, trading in cans for five cents each at her local supermarket. Josefa Marin immigrated to New York from Mexico in 1987, supporting her daughter back home with the $140 a week she earned cleaning floors at a sweater factory. “There’s value in the waste, and we feel that value should belong to the people, not the city or the corporations.” A recycler’s journey “These containers are made explicitly inaccessible,” says Ryan Castalia, executive director of Sure We Can, a nonprofit recycling and community center in Brooklyn. That enables police to search trash for criminal evidence, but that protection hasn’t always been extended to people who collect recyclables.Īnd in places like New York City, which is testing city-owned locked containers to hide trash from rats, waste pickers are being kept from a sustainable income. The United States Supreme Court in 1988 ruled that household garbage is public property once it’s on the curb. Globally, up to 56 million people collect and resell the metal, glass, cardboard, and plastic that the rest of us toss. What we throw away, they insist, should be available to all. There might also be a pickup service for these objects – the local town hall can advise on this.Įlectrical and electronic appliances, as well as renovation and construction waste should be brought to a recycling centre.Who owns our trash? It’s a heated question being asked by waste pickers around the world who are uniting to fight for their survival. Disposing of large objectsīulky objects can be brought to a recycling centre. In some peripheral neighbourhoods, there is a scheduled mobile collection point ( Ecoparque Móvil) service. In some areas, there are red bins for hazardous waste. Small hazardous waste or chemical waste such as detergents, paint, varnish, oil, cosmetics, cartridges and toners should be taken to a recycling centre ( eco-parque). Medication should be returned to a pharmacy.īatteries should be left in collection bins for this purpose. Associations accept used clothes, and kennels and catteries appreciate donations of towels and sheets. Textiles should be left in a clothing bank, if there is one. Paper ( papel) and cardboard should be recycled in the blue bin. Plastic bottles, metal packaging and drinks cartons should be recycled in the yellow bin. Glass should be recycled in the green bottle bank, without lids or caps and properly emptied. Organic waste should be put in the brown bin, where available. Each colour is associated with the type of material. Products to recycle should be brought to a recycle point ( punto limpio), where containers in several colours are located. The colour of the bin depends on the region, but is normally grey. Residual waste is any non-recyclable, non-hazardous, household waste. The waste collection is paid for annually through taxes. The town hall can provide information on this. The bins should often be put out at specific times. Refuse collection varies depending on region, and type of area. Management of household waste and recycling in Spain is under the responsibility of the municipalities. What you can and can't throw in the dustbin and how and where to dispose of household waste, toxic products and electronic equipment. Information on the management of household waste in Spain.
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