Today's post written by YV Intern Cecilia Martinez.
Garbage, noun.
1. discarded waste: worthless, unwanted or useless material
2. refuse: trash
Is that what you see when you look at this picture?
While you are right, for a percentage of people in the developing world who survive by salvaging materials from other people’s waste, this would represent opportunity.
Unlike most developed countries where recycling is mandated by law, recycling in the developing world is often carried out informally by individuals, known in English-speaking areas as waste collectors, trash pickers, or scavengers. From Mexico to Brazil to Colombia to Egypt, the Philippines, and India, millions live on and off of garbage to survive. These people make a living by picking out recyclable elements from mixed waste: clear plastics, soda bottles, tin cans, copper wire, rubber tires, basically anything that can be recycled and resold.
There are about 64 million scavengers in the world today and their activities reduce solid waste and help to save natural resources. Scavenging provides income to people who are otherwise unemployed, it supplies inexpensive raw materials to industries and reduces the demand for garbage collection, transport and disposal equipment and facilities. For example, a study estimates that Indonesian scavengers reduce the amount of waste that needs final disposal by a third!
Despite the many valuable contributions that scavengers make to societies all over the world, scavengers are almost always disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the population. This is because a life dependent on garbage is often a life of extreme poverty: limited access to clean water, food, healthcare and a clean environment. Scavengers around the world face multiple hazards and problems. According to a study, Mexico City dumpsite scavengers have a life expectancy of 39 years, while the general population’s is 67 years. Another study, conducted in Port Said, Egypt, found that the scavenger community had an infant mortality of 1/3 (one death of an infant under one year out of every 3 live births), which is several times higher than the rate for the region as a whole.
While scavengers help the world by taking care of the garbage that we don’t want to see, they are often marginalized by the rest of society, and survive in hostile physical and social environments.
The challenge is to change that.
Do you have an idea that can improve the lives of scavengers around the world? What can you do to improve the way waste is managed and treated in your community? How can you make a positive difference in your community? Tell us about it and make it happen through the Youth Venture Dream it. Do it. Challenge!
Statistics courtesy of: http://www.wiego.org/occupational_groups/waste_collectors/index.php
Photo credit: http://fiftyhours.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/pile-of-garbage.jpg
Garbage, noun.
1. discarded waste: worthless, unwanted or useless material
2. refuse: trash
Is that what you see when you look at this picture?
While you are right, for a percentage of people in the developing world who survive by salvaging materials from other people’s waste, this would represent opportunity.
Unlike most developed countries where recycling is mandated by law, recycling in the developing world is often carried out informally by individuals, known in English-speaking areas as waste collectors, trash pickers, or scavengers. From Mexico to Brazil to Colombia to Egypt, the Philippines, and India, millions live on and off of garbage to survive. These people make a living by picking out recyclable elements from mixed waste: clear plastics, soda bottles, tin cans, copper wire, rubber tires, basically anything that can be recycled and resold.
There are about 64 million scavengers in the world today and their activities reduce solid waste and help to save natural resources. Scavenging provides income to people who are otherwise unemployed, it supplies inexpensive raw materials to industries and reduces the demand for garbage collection, transport and disposal equipment and facilities. For example, a study estimates that Indonesian scavengers reduce the amount of waste that needs final disposal by a third!
Despite the many valuable contributions that scavengers make to societies all over the world, scavengers are almost always disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the population. This is because a life dependent on garbage is often a life of extreme poverty: limited access to clean water, food, healthcare and a clean environment. Scavengers around the world face multiple hazards and problems. According to a study, Mexico City dumpsite scavengers have a life expectancy of 39 years, while the general population’s is 67 years. Another study, conducted in Port Said, Egypt, found that the scavenger community had an infant mortality of 1/3 (one death of an infant under one year out of every 3 live births), which is several times higher than the rate for the region as a whole.
While scavengers help the world by taking care of the garbage that we don’t want to see, they are often marginalized by the rest of society, and survive in hostile physical and social environments.
The challenge is to change that.
Do you have an idea that can improve the lives of scavengers around the world? What can you do to improve the way waste is managed and treated in your community? How can you make a positive difference in your community? Tell us about it and make it happen through the Youth Venture Dream it. Do it. Challenge!
Statistics courtesy of: http://www.wiego.org/occupational_groups/waste_collectors/index.php
Photo credit: http://fiftyhours.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/pile-of-garbage.jpg
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