Solid waste management is an issue for all urban agglomerations as the excessive consumption of modern lifestyles inevitably produce vast amounts of refuse. Rio de Janeiro’s population of 6.5 million produces around 9050 tonnes of solid waste per day, equating to around 1.5kg per person per day (Tirado-Soto and Zamberlan 2013).

The ‘formal’ solutions for waste management are provided for by the municipal company COMLURB, a public private enterprise dedicated to the collection and disposal of waste across Rio de Janeiro. However, it is estimated that COMLURB only collects 1% of Rio’s total waste (Wilkes 2015). Moreover, the municipal company only collects rubbish from neighbourhoods of the asphalt; there is a preconception that poorer communities in the hills are less likely to produce solid waste worth sorting through (for recycling or reusing materials). This logic justifies a limited waste collection service for residents living in favelas and more remote communities on the fringes of Rio de Janeiro. With a workforce of 19,000, how is it possible that the municipal body only sorts through such a small proportion of the total solid waste produced by all cariocas?

The eventual disposal of solid waste in Rio de Janeiro often ends up in landfill sites (97.5%). Here, recyclable or not, waste is left to rot and decompose. Some even end up in the Guanabara Bay due to surface runoff on piles of waste. The most common location of landfill sites is on the periphery of the metropolis, for example Jardim Gramacho, where poorer communities feel (and smell) the consequences of inadequate solid waste management, further fuelling the discord between socio-economic groups in Rio de Janeiro.

The key actors behind solutions aimed at ameliorating the consequences of poor waste management are not the formal initiatives implemented by public bodies, but instead creative ingenuity led by smaller, private corporations and community leaders. People of the hills have predominantly taken the sorting of garbage into their own hands (Millar 2018). Catadores, the term used to describe individuals sorting through garbage to utilise recyclables and reclaim rubbish, effectively use waste from landfill sites as a way of living. The work of catadores on landfill sites are officially illegal, their pay is not taxed, and employment history is not recorded. But this way of life is central to favela communities across Rio de Janeiro, contributing to high rates of recycling before waste is disposed of to landfill sites (45 – 55%). This has given meaning to catadores, who seek to redress poor governance of waste by municipal authorities, ironically challenging the status quo of ‘formal’ initiatives through ‘informal’ means.

Catadores also reclaim waste through creativity and resourcefulness. Deep in the hills, a beautiful scenic garden flowing with greenery stands out amongst Vidigal’s concrete urbanity. Before this, a towering 16 tonnes of garbage eclipsed the community. Years of inaction and failure by public bodies to sort through rubbish led Mauro Quintanilha, a lifelong resident of Vidigal, to take matters into his own hands (Collins 2016). In 2006, Quintanilha sorted through the garbage site with other members of the community and produced a tranquil space of greenery, temporarily distracting visitors and cariocas from the bustling life of the favela. Now, remnants of a once neglected land are part of the garden; tyres and mason jars are ingrained into the landscape for decoration, and bicycle frames are used to form the fences and seating area. Wilson Alexandre, another resident of Vidigal, produces stunning murals and sculptures from old household appliances. Arguably, the capacity of communities to access sites of refuse provides new opportunities, not just compensatory gain in the form of pay for individuals but also in the form of creative and collective action for the benefit of the community.

The selective means of waste management by municipal authorities, and the eventual destination of waste in Rio raises further questions about urban politics, society and nature. Examining the local sites of contestation, such as Vidigal, are central to uncovering power relations between community-based movements and public bodies.

If you’re interested in this, the lives of catadores in Jardim Gramacho have been documented in ‘Waste Land’, a film by Lucy Walker, and the book ‘Reclaiming the Discarded: Life and Labor on Rio’s Garbage Dump’ by Kathleen Millar.

List of references:

Collins, J. (2016) ‘A lush green garden in a concrete jungle’ (WWW) DW: DW (https://www.dw.com/en/a-lush-green-garden-in-a-concrete-jungle/a-19320969: February 13 2020).

Millar, K.M. (2018) Reclaiming the Discarded: Life and Labor on Rio’s Garbage Dump, Duke University Press, Durham.

Tirado-Soto, M.M. and F.L. Zamberlan (2013) ‘Networks of recyclable material waste-picker’s cooperatives: An alternative for the solid waste management in the city of Rio de Janeiro’, Waste Management, 33, 4, 1004-1012.

Wilkes, C. (2015) ‘Recycling in Rio de Janeiro: An Overview’ (WWW) RioOnWatch: RioOnWatch (https://www.rioonwatch.org/?p=21419: February 13 2020).