Catadores of Brazil, Part 1

This section is an introduction to the situation in the Brazilian state of Ceará but it is not unique to the area!

The waste pickers or catadores of Brazil are plentiful and hard-working. There are an estimated 10 thousand catadores in the state of Ceará who forage for scaps that others deem unfit for use, making them recyclers in the purest of forms. However, due to a lack of energy, infrastructure, and training, they are limited to existing day to day. A community based landfill project involving the extraction of methane gas (CO4) can help to solve this problem and boost the financial success of the surrounding industries as well as provide offsets for international businesses. Most importantly, funding for infrastructure and education can lift the catadores out of generations of poverty. Furthermore, the utilization of methane gas for energy will keep it from simply being released into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• catadores
• waste
• pickers
• Brazil
• Maracanau
• Fortaleza
• recycling
• methane
• gas
• landfill