MTE: Another step towards the recovery of workers’ rights
Another step towards the recovery of workers’ rights. After the massive mobilization of the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) and the Federation of Recyclers’ Cooperatives (CT...
INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF
WASTE PICKERS
WASTE PICKERS
The International Alliance of Waste Pickers is a union of waste picker organizations representing more than 460,000 workers across 34 countries
Supported by
Latin America
Video: Brazilian waste pickers and French biffins share a common struggle
In this video taken at the Waste and Citizenship Festival in France, Roberto Prates Reis, National Movement of Waste Pickers (MNCR), talks about the reality of waste pickers (called “biffins”) in France, and compares them to similar struggles in Brazil.
Red Lacre: A week-long meeting in Santiago with waste pickers from 10 countries
On August 31st, the Latin American Waste Pickers’ Network wrapped up a week of meetings and activities held in Santiago, Chile (Aug. 25-31). The final activity consisted of a visit to informal recyclers of the dumpsite known as Vertedero Los Molles, in Valparaíso.
Bolivian waste pickers demand their right to social security
Waste pickers’ associations from seven cities in Bolivia that participated in the second national conference, marched to demand the passage of a law that recognizes them as workers and gives them the right to social security benefits.
Costan Rican waste pickers host their first conference
On September 14, Costa Rican waste pickers hosted their First Waste Pickers Conference, in the city of San Jose. More than 100 recicladores from around the country participated, according to the newspaper La Nación. Their stated objective is to dignify the livelihoods of the families that collect recyclables.
“As of today, the waste pickers of Rio de Janeiro will go hungry”
In the first week of September, 246 waste pickers of the Gericinó dumpsite in Bangú, a peripheral neighborhood in the Rio de Janeiro municipality, were facing the possibility of being suddenly out of work. The workers found out that the city, which has been in the process of closing the dumpsite for many months, was going to hand management over to a private company within two weeks time and that the dumpsite would be off limits.
48 cartoneros take a 40-hour bus ride to meet the new pope in Rio
The young, uniformed cartoneros caught the attention of passersby in the crowd not only because of the size of the group – 35 – but because of the worker’s uniform they wore for the pilgrimage. It consists of dark blue pants and jackets lined with neon green strips for visibility. It clearly marked them as workers. The members of the MTE stood out for another reason. They conveyed a seriousness that was in contrast to the many of the chatty, smart phone-carrying teenagers. They are young workers, and they seem older than their years.
Red Lacre representatives show solidarity with Chilean landfill workers
On August 31, as part of the Red Lacre meeting held in Chile, 15 delegates visited waste pickers in the Los Molles landfill in the city of Valparaíso, only a few days before its closure and the opening of a new one. The purpose of the visit was to show support and give motivation for local organizing and reintegration at the new landfill. Los Molles has been open for more than 30 years.
Petition from GAIA to stop the intimidation of a Mexican social and environmental activist
Join us by signing this letter to Mexican authorities requesting protection for Jorge Tadeo Vargas, an activist who struggles peacefully for environmental and social justice from the territories.
Video: Chronicles of a Struggle for Inclusion, Part 3: Sí Se Puede
Waste pickers have found that collective action in defense of their rights and livelihoods is an effective solution to transforming the difficult working conditions, discrimination and harassment they face.
Petition to support El Álamo Cooperative in Buenos Aires
La cooperativa El Álamo está formada por 60 cartoneros que recuperan materiales reciclables por un total de 200 toneladas por mes, evitando que estos materiales vayan al relleno sanitario. El Gobierno de la Ciudad de Bs.As. planea construir en un mes un túnel bajo nivel reduciendo las dimensiones del actual lugar hasta convertirlo en un sitio inutilizable para la tarea que realiza la cooperativa.
The documentary “Catador” talks to waste pickers of Rio de Janeiro as they prepare for a dump to close
The documentary “Catador”, meaning “Waste Picker”, which explores the struggle of the 246 waste pickers of Gericinó, in Rio de Janeiro, as they face the closure of the dump that has sustained them and their families. The documentary was made by Professor Andrew Mills of Northwestern University (United States) with students from th
UCRUS: the 5th march against privatization in Uruguay
A Montevideo bill proposed for January 2014 would create “exclusionary zones” where waste pickers and their horse-drawn carts would not be allowed to enter. The bill involves not only the exclusion of waste pickers but the privatization of recyclables only accessible to so-called “authorized” parties.
MNCR: Cataforte 3 is a direct investment in the environment
The National Waste Pickers’ Movement of Brazil (MNCR) participated on July 31st in the launch of the third edition of Cataforte, a federal program whose purpose is to strengthen waste pickers’ organizations. The objective is the restructuring of waste pickers’ networks and associations so that these solidary networks become more capable of performing recycling service for municipalities, as well as to become involved in reverse logistics (producer responsibility) and begin to commercialize their recyclable materials, with the goal of reaching 35 networks.
Dominican Republic hosted its first conference of waste pickers
Congratulations to the association of waste pickers of the Mao landfill, in the Dominican Republic, for hosting their first assembly on July 21st. “We continue to move forward towards the creation of the National Movement of Waste Pickers of the Dominican Republic,” the Asociación de los Recicladores del Ecoparque Rafey said on their facebook page. See their facebook post with photos.
Video: “Clasificadores: A few experiences of working with waste in Uruguay”
El documental “Clasificadores. Algunas experiencias del trabajo con residuos en Uruguay” es uno de los productos comunicacionales elaborados y pretende reflejar las condiciones en las que viven y trabajan los clasificadores de residuos sólidos así como algunas de sus principales reivindicaciones.
MNCR: Residents of Barueri protest the installation of a waste incinerator
The government of Barueri plans on burning 97 percent of its waste and recycling only 3 percent, as well as burning waste from nearby cities. The proposal runs against the National Waste Policy, which gives priority to reducing and recycling with social inclusion, as well as federal and UN environmental policies.
MNCR: Petition In support of a bill against incineration in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil)
This petition — a joint effort of the MNCR (National waste pickers’ movement of Brazil) along with other social movements and groups — supports a bill that would stop to incineration of solid waste in the state Minas Gerais, Brazil. If this bill were approved it would support recycling collection based on solidarity — a system developed and pioneered by the waste pickers.
REDNICA: In Defense of Our Livelihood! Waste pickers fighting eviction from Managua landfill
Compañeros/as of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Waste Pickers (Red Lacre), in this very moment we are living through one of the biggest violations of our right to work as waste pickers, as the municipal landfill company Chureca de Managua has displaced us from our workplace which for decades provided us with solid waste, our source of livelihood.
MNCR’s stance on the protests in Brazil
MNCR (Brazil’s national waste pickers’ movement) pledges its continual support of the protests happening across Brazil for concrete goals of social and environmental justice but explains why it’s important to keep informed and aware about conservative, elitist and prejudiced groups that have been trying to appropriate the protests to promote their own interests, with the backing of and manipulation by the Brazilian elite and the media monopoly.