Refusing to be Cast Aside: Waste Pickers Organising Around the World
objections raised by catadores at the Second Waste & Citizenship Festival held in Belo Horizonte in 2003, this deadline was extended to the end of 2003 and municipalities were required to create labour and income alternatives for catadores displaced from the dumps. • In 2004 Law #3517/04 of the Federal District of Brasília stated that organised catadores should receive recyclable materials generated in state buildings. On July 7th 2006 the state supplemented this with Law #3890, which requires the implementation of selective collection in all of the state’s administrative regions, and that organised catadores should receive the recyclable materials. Finally, Dias and Alves also describe important gains at the national level: • In 2001 ‘Scrap Iron Picker’, ‘Paper or Cardboard Picker’, ‘Scrap Picker’, ‘Scrap Packager (co-operative)’ and ‘Scrap Sorter (co-operative)’ were included as occupations in the Brazilian Classification of Occupations. This has led to formal recognition that the work of catadores is an occupation. It also means that it is possible to use official data bases to analyse the conditions of catadores. • In 2007 the adoption of Law # 11.445/07 established national guidelines for basic sanitation. It amended previous legislation and made it unnecessary for bidding when municipalities contract catadores’ organisations. As a result, municipalities can contract and pay catadores’ associations and cooperatives to perform selective waste collection without putting this service out to a competitive tender. • In August 2006 Presidential Decree 5940/06 was presented at the Fifth Waste & Citizenship Festival held in Belo Horizonte. Organised catadores had participated in the development of this decree. Following on the example of Brasilia, according to this Decree selective collection must be implemented in all federal public buildings and the recyclable materials must be given to organisations of catadores. The Inter-ministerial Committee for the Social Inclusion of Waste pickers (CIISC), which includes representatives from key federal government ministries, the Presidential Staff Office, the National Economic and Social Development Bank, the Social Bank (CAIXA) and the MNCR, is responsible for its execution. Implementation was first initiated in 12 metropolitan regions through the establishment of agreements between the relevant public institutions and local organisations of catadores (Dias and Alves 2008, 59-62). Clearly, tremendous strides have been made in transforming Brazilian legislation to promote the inclusion and advancement of catadores, both within municipal waste management systems and more generally as citizens. However, as Dias points out, the entire legal framework is based on catadores being members of formally organised co-operatives or associations. In a context where the vast majority of catadores are 65