See also: Recovery of waste, Ragman
The abstract recovery of waste is the activity consisting “to sort and extract manually from the materials which can be recycled or reusable since mixed Déchet S, in the legal and illegal discharges, with the deposits and on the piles of waste, in the Poubelle S, at the points of transfer or in the trucks of transport. ”. When this activity is practiced in the dustbins, one uses the expression “to make the dustbins”. This activity is one in the ways of recovering waste, the other ways consisting in recovering them with the source (before they are mixed with other waste) or recovering them in an organized way (via the Déchetterie).
This activity is strongly unhealthy, dangerous even illegal according to the places, and can be regarded as degrading: except for some cases of people doing it with a scientific or artistic aim, it is practiced only by those which hardly have other choices: marginalized people Without fixed residence in the Country developed S, inhabitants of the Shantytown S of the Developing country. It belongs to the activities of the informal economy.
If it is difficult to know how much people exactly carry on this activity, the estimates give a total ranging between 2 million and 6 million people on a world level (see low).
Terminology
One finds in French several expressions to indicate this activity and the people it practitioner, even if English is frequently employed in the field of the development. English scavenging and scavenger (applied at the origin with the animals to indicate the Charognard S) is often considered to be too pejorative, while the word of ragman ( rag picker ), if there remains usually employed, is too restrictive because he indicates only the fabric recovery. The English word waste pickers is currently employed the most in the studies, which is usually translated by recuperator of waste or pick-up of waste (sometimes by adding the “abstract” adjective to distinguish them from the professional street sweepers), even collecting of waste . One also uses “refuse” in the place of “waste”.
There also exists of many names or local nicknames, which are sometimes preferred: for example, one speaks about Zabbaleen in Egypt, Cartoneros in Argentine, Chifonye in Haiti, Kacharawala with Delhi, Tokai with the Bangladesh, Kabaris with Karachi, Pepenadores with the Mexico, Basuriegos in Colombia, Catadores with the Brésil…: these names often indicate the principal materials (paperboard, rags, etc) which are recovered.
Types of recovered waste and uses
Recovered waste is overall of three principal types: for the immediate subsistence, for resale, or scientific or artistic use.
- Waste having an immediate re-use: it is in general about edible waste, like remainders of food, thrown because having exceeded to them Deadline of consumption but always good products; these products are intended to be consumed shortly after. They are found with the accesses of the Marché S, or of the Supermarché S and the Restaurant S in the developed countries.
- Waste intended for the resale: many thrown objects can find a commercial value with few expenses, and thus get an essence, means of existence in the places where poverty is widespread and very important unemployment. This type of use creates a work with whole share, and remains the dominant form of recovery in the developing countries.
- Waste for a “professional” use: this case remains extremely marginal compared to the two others; it relates to in particular the recovery of waste made “for the shiver”, an artistic creation, a sociological study or a investigation.
In addition to these three uses, waste can have other utilities. In the floodplains, waste can be used as fill in the absence of another material immediately available: thus, in the zones of Cape-Haitian built on the Marsh with mangroves, 50% of the ground are composed of household waste. Waste is also used to form Digue S of fortune against the Marée S of great amplitude and the Vague S.
World situation
Statistics
Since the majority of the recuperators work in the informal sector, it is difficult to precisely determine their number in the world. It is possible to consult evaluations of ground, that is to say potentially 1,6 million people only in the the least advanced Pays and 6,35 million people in the countries with weak or moderately weak income. If on the other hand one uses the rate of 6 ‰ of the population which frequently appears in the table below, the estimated number of abstract recuperators would be of 490 000 in the least advanced countries, and 1,92 million in all the countries with weak or fairly weak income.
Income
If the recovery of waste comes from a situation of great poverty and a lack of resources, the recuperators are not therefore poorest of the inhabitants; the latter are found among the beggars or the isolated elderly}}
Sociology
The share of the Femme S in the recuperators is high: 38% with Pnomh Penh or 60% with Hanoi, and generally about 50%; still these figures concern often only the pick-ups and not the retailers. The recovery of waste particularly implies the Travail of the children. According to the already quoted study, the children can represent more half of the recuperators; their age varied between 4-5 years and 18 years.
The minorities on-are often represented among the pick-ups, which they are religious minorities or ethnic: the Christians Copte S are more half of the pick-ups in Egypt, just as the Musulman S with Calcutta; in Romania they are most of the time the Rroms, in India the Dalit S. It can also act from abroad to the country, like the Syria NS and Palestinians with the Lebanon, the Afghan with the Pakistan or the Bangladesh I in Delhi. One also finds many new migrants coming from the campaigns or fleeing a disaster, without them not belonging to clear minorities.
Place in the management of waste
The diagram below watch a typical management system in a big city of a developing country: part of waste is recovered in a way organized by the public services: collect with the source, cleaning of the streets, transport and final treatment. One often finds part of waste which is not recovered and which remain in the streets and the channels: they are often flarings as soon as they take too much place. Lastly, part of waste is recovered informellement, with the source, in the streets or the discharges.
The collecting does not stop there. Waste is then sold with intermediaries which are occupied either to resell them directly, or to transform them: cleaning, addition of value, separation of materials… following what they are resold. Abstract recovery takes part thus in the Recyclage and consequently in the management system of waste. The volume of recovered waste is far from being negligible: on the whole of Romania, 1 to 2% of waste which can be recycled is recovered informellement, waste which can be recycled forming 36% of the total. In Bangalore, 15% of municipal waste are thus recovered each day; in Cairo, it is between 30 and 40% of all waste which is recovered, are 900 tons each day. The management of waste being able to represent up to 30% of the municipal budget as to Karâchi, abstract recovery also makes it possible the town of realize savings.
Publications of reference. Associations of recuperators are also officially recognized.
Such initiatives remain rare: to date, only a handle of municipalities integrated the pick-ups in their control programs of waste, in particular that of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, some towns of India and in Philippines.
Living conditions
Risks
The collection of waste on the discharges and the handling even of waste involves physical health hazards and dangers to the pick-ups. The parasitic diseases are usually widespread at the pick-ups (65% of incidence to Bangkok and 97% with Olinda); high density of particles (up to 25 times higher than in the residential zones
The dangers are also physical: the poverty of the pick-ups generally does not enable them to have adapted protective gears. The people walking in Tong S even barefeet are exposed to cuts of sharp objects, with an infection by medical waste (in particular the Seringue S), with the bites of animals and the insect bites. The weight of materials creates problems of recurring backs. The instability of waste increases the risks of fractures, the pollutant gas increase can trap a pick-up, and the crumbling S can be mortals: 39 died with Istanbul in 1993, more than 200 with Manila in 2000 during a collapse of waste, some 250 evacuated people with O Portiño (Spain) in 1994
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