Published on April 13, 2017.-

Grassroots recycling is dedicated to collecting, selecting, recovering, transforming, marketing and reusing solid waste. It also generates jobs and savings in state administrations.

According to data from the Ministry of the Environment, in our country about 17 million tons of solid waste are generated per year, of which only 10% is recycled. Of this small percentage, around 60% is carried out by grassroots recyclers.

In Chile, about 60 thousand people are dedicated to this trade. Even entire families are dedicated to recycling and earn their income from the sale of these materials. Until recently they were not recognized as workers by the State, so they did not have labor benefits of any kind. This changed with the implementation of the Recycling Law, which allows them to certify and formalize their work like any other worker in the country.

A silent job and little valued by society and authorities but of supreme importance when it comes to cleaning the city and giving new life to discarded materials.

Source: El Definido