Myth # 1:
Informal recycling is a recent phenomenon

Many people, including some specialists, think that informal recycling goes back only a few decades. In fact, it has existed for thousands of years. Our ancestors began to use and refine gold, copper and bronze when metallurgy first emerged, some 5,000 years ago. They quickly realized that anything left over from the process—as well as old and broken objects—could be melted down and recycled to make new objects. People who specialize in recovering metals, not to mention other waste materials, such as glass, wood and paper, have been around for centuries.

Myth # 2:
All scavengers are indigent and extremely poor

The way scavengers look and their daily contact with garbage leads society in general, as well as some academics, to believe that they are among the poorest members of society. It is true that scavengers sometimes have very low incomes, below poverty levels in many countries. However, this poverty tends to be caused by exploitation by middlemen and corrupt leaders. If scavengers are not exploited, they can earn several times the minimum wage, which enables them to escape from poverty. Microenterprises, cooperatives, and public and private associations have been successful in reducing poverty among scavengers.

Myth # 3:
Scavenging is a marginal activity

Scavenging is often believed to be an activity relegated to society’s social and economic fringe. This is not true. Since scavengers first began to ply their trade, they have played a fundamental role in supplying raw materials for industry. In Latin America, scavengers have been essential to the development of the paper industry for more than four centuries. Mexico’s paper industry is trying to use as much waste paper and cardboard recovered by pepenadores (cardboard collectors) as possible in order to survive the competition brought on by the country’s economic opening.

Myth # 4:
Scavenging is a disorganized activity

It is true that scavengers are often not affiliated with any particular organization. However, scavengers often specialize, and they even have systems of division of labor. In the streets, they sometimes establish territorial divisions. Scavengers also make agreements with local residents, stores and businesses, for example, that the latter sell or give away materials to certain scavengers and not to others. Garbage dumps and landfills are the most highly organized of all. Hundreds or even thousands of garbage-pickers may work there, and they tend to be organized in order to avoid conflicts and disorder. They have work shifts and supervisors, and each worker has a specialty. At some of these sites, scavenging resembles an industry.

Myth # 5:
Scavenging has minimal financial impact

This opinion is widely held but incorrect. We know relatively little about the financial impact of scavenging, but we do know that it has a large financial footprint than people acknowledge. According to my own estimates, scavenging in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, brings in nearly US$5.5 million a year. Informal collection and scavenging in five Mexican cities earns more than US$21 million a year and employs more than 3,000 people. World Bank estimates suggest that more than 60 million people worldwide work as scavengers, which would put their economic impact at hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Scavenging cuts down on imports of raw materials, which enables the country to save hard currency. The scavenger-recovered materials are often exported, thus generating hard currency. In Argentina, for example, the plastic used to make carbonated beverage containers is exported to China, where it is recycled and transformed into new products.

Myth # 6:
Scavenging is a static activity

Scavenging is actually highly dynamic. It is connected to and depends directly on developments at the national and international level. Population growth and urbanization increase the production of consumer products and the resulting waste materials. The industries that produce these products require raw materials. Increased economic activity and international trade also boost the demand for the materials recovered by scavengers. The price of these materials depends on global supply and demand factors. In times of economic crisis, scavenging tends to rise, as a result of unemployment and poverty. In Mexico, the 1994 peso devaluation and ensuing economic crisis led to a dramatic increase in scavenging. Similarly, Argentina’s devaluation and economic crisis during recent years have increased the number of cartoneros working on the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities.

Myth # 7:
Scavengers are a nuisance that must be eliminated

Government authorities in most countries think that scavengers constitute a problem that must be eliminated. It is true that scavengers may cause some problems, such as opening bags of garbage and scattering their contents onto the streets. Working in garbage dumps presents serious health risks to scavengers. The authorities usually respond by making scavenging activities illegal and chasing down the offenders. In most cases, however, these repressive policies cut scavengers’ income and make their living conditions worse. If the authorities want to reduce poverty, they should not persecute scavengers.

Myth # 8:
Scavenging has no place in modern waste management systems

As a result of the response described above, many authorities think that the solution to the solid waste problem is to adopt the kinds of advanced techniques used in developed countries. It is true that there is no role for scavengers and garbage pickers to play in developed countries. But socioeconomic conditions in developed countries and developing countries are completely different. In many cases, it makes no sense for our countries to embrace the same waste management techniques used in Europe, Japan or the United States. Scavengers have a significant impact on garbage collection, decreasing the need for garbage trucks and sanitation workers, and lengthening the useful life of garbage dumps and sanitary landfills. In fact, it could be argued that when given proper support, scavenging offers a perfect example of sustainable development: it creates jobs, reduces poverty, prevents pollution, conserves natural resources, supplies low-cost raw materials to industry (thus making it more competitive) and protects the environment.