Brazil's estimated 16,000 open dumps are gradually being upgraded to controlled landfills, according to Cempre, a nonprofit recycling organization supported by Brazilian industry. While this is good for the environment, the modernization presents the problem of what to do with "catadores" who depend on scavenging as a way of life. City officials agree that alternative work must be found for catadores, who historically live and work in squalid conditions. One strategy is employing them in recycling programs.
In the city of Porto Alegre, 500 catadores used to live in the old dump on the city's north side. The Catholic Church and the city government now employ 120 ex-catadores who separate materials collected through the curbside recycling program, one of Brazil's largest. The city of Santos also has opted for professional training of catadores displaced when the dump closed in 1989. They now wear uniforms and collect recyclables in the streets with standardized carts. In Rio de Janeiro, a similar plan is being developed. Nearly 500 catadores at the city's gigantic Gramacho dump will have a chance to be retrained and employed at a mixed waste processing plant that will recover materials from 5,500 tons/day of refuse
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