Abstract
Informed by different grassroots learning and educational practices engaged in waste management, and drawing from the concepts of insurgent citizenship and environmental stewardship, we examine the role of waste picker organizations and movements in creating new pathways towards more sustainable environmental waste governance. Two case studies (Argentina and Brazil) demonstrate how waste pickers inform and educate the general public and raise the awareness of socio-environmental questions related to waste management. Different educational practices are used as strategies to confront citizens with their waste: to see waste as a consumption problem, resource, and income source. Our paper draws on grassroots learning (social movement learning and insurgent learning) and education (stewardship) aimed at the transformation of waste practices. We argue that waste pickers play an important role in knowledge production promoting recycling, in landfilling less and recovering more resources. We conclude that waste pickers act as insurgent citizens and also are environmental stewards.
Highlights
Solid waste is a significant urban problem, receiving increasing attention by the public and government
Some municipalities in Brazil have established contracts with waste picker cooperatives, responsible for selective waste collection which sometimes provides them with opportunities to engage in educating households about recycling
In the absence of any state program on environmental education, grassroots organizations can fill that gap in the community of waste management education, resulting in the promotion of door-to-door selective household and business waste collection or resulting in the creation of new small-scale waste organizations turning into institutional entrepreneurs in waste collection and diversion (Gutberlet, 2016; Gutberlet et al, 2017)
Summary
Solid waste is a significant urban problem, receiving increasing attention by the public and government. In many cities in the global South, municipal waste is still primarily landfilled or dumped. Most cities in Brazil and Argentina do not yet have a widely installed official recycling program in place. Some municipalities in Brazil have established contracts with waste picker cooperatives, responsible for selective waste collection which sometimes provides them with opportunities to engage in educating households about recycling. In Argentina, waste picker cooperatives engage in environmental education activities to improve formal selective waste collection, yet with very little recognition by the local government. No significant policy changes and implementations, have been materialized in terms of avoiding waste generation or even reducing the generation of materials that are not recyclable and will become waste once discarded. Capitalism, economic growth, and global market primacy continue defining the socio-material relations of production, consumption, and waste (Corvellec, 2016)
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