Garbage dumps, homeless and intolerance: an uncomfortable image

Every morning, in any city, the dumpsters fill up before the streets. Not only of food scraps and empty containers, but also of human stories that many prefer to ignore, to avoid seeing the uncomfortable mirror of the lives of garbage collectors and the needy.

Among the rubble and garbage, the needy -those people to whom the system, in some parts of the world has turned its back, and in Cuba, despite the commitment to the full dignity of man, financial imbalances have turned them into "targets"- look for something of recyclable value, and in other parts of the world, I repeat, even a little dignity.

The scene is uncomfortable. For some, even offensive. There are those who frown, quicken their pace or throw looks of contempt. Intolerance towards those who live in a situation of economic vulnerability has become part of the urban landscape, as common as the noise of cars or the stench of those dumps that pollute the air we all breathe.

It is easily forgotten that no one chooses to be born on the margins or to be a victim of inflation, and even that behind every person who rummages through the trash there is a story of loss, of broken dreams and absences.

But intolerance is not limited to gesture or word. In other places, I insist, it is expressed in laws that criminalize poverty, in policies that expel the homeless from public spaces, in the indifference of those who could lend a hand, in the largest of the Antilles the story could be very different.

A challenge that requires social vision, innovation and inclusive public policies would be to turn garbage dumps into a source of wealth for the needy and lift them out of economic vulnerability.

Organizing informal waste collectors into cooperatives or micro-enterprises will allow them to change their perception of life, based on legal and social recognition; successful examples exist in several countries in the area.

Creating skills in them on how to separate waste efficiently, how to handle materials safely, and recycling or composting techniques that add value to waste could be some of the actions to learn together how to move towards sustainability in an ecological and safe way.

Finally, legally recognizing recyclers as key actors in waste management and guaranteeing them access to materials, social security and participation in decision-making in any context aims to integrate these needy people into green production chains.

Educating the population about the importance of recycling and respect for waste pickers and dignified treatment anywhere in the world would be the first steps towards raising awareness.

Transforming landfills into a source of wealth for the needy is not only possible, but desirable. It requires political will, social innovation and a human rights approach. In this way, waste ceases to be a symbol of exclusion and becomes an engine of dignity, employment and sustainable development.

This reporter knows that there are characters and other problems associated with landfills, but they will be the subject of future analyses.