Whoever believes that trash is the end of a product’s life lives in the past. Today, it is possible to create new products from waste materials, meeting the demands of a conscious consumer market. 

This was the idea of Roberta Alves, 37, better known as “Docinho” (Sweetie). Five months ago, she changed 15 years spent as a garbage picker for entrepreneurship. 

“I noticed a business opportunity in the garbage landfill, I saw hope for a better life. The material collected could be used for producing a lot of other products. I had the idea of making brooms”, ‘Docinho’ explains.

Nowadays, 10 garbage pickers make part of the businesswoman’s team, and produce up to 100 brooms a day. These professionals’ job is a practice getting very common in Brazil.

According to a study made in April 2012 by the Applied Economics Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA), there are today between 400 and 600 thousand pickers of recyclable material in activity in the country with at least 1.1 thousand collective organizations.

Among some of the products that can be produced are: hangers, rulers, pipes, faucets, roof tiles, watches, synthetic marble, paint, varnish, clothes, duvets, shawls and tapestry. Most times they have higher quality, cost less and last longer.

At Rio+20

During the Conference, 69 pickers will be at the official places for the events acting as environmental educators to inform and raise the awareness towards the importance of selective collection.

Read more about garbage collection.