Mexico City’s invisible recyclers fight for rights — and a share of the profits
“Living from garbage doesn’t mean we become part of the garbage,” Soledad Mella told a packed auditorium in Iztapalapa, the Mexico City borough most burdened with the megacity’s massive waste stream. “We must dignify and defend our work. But above all, we must organize.” The energetic grassroots recycler — referred to here in Mexico as a pepenadora — had carried her message all the way from Chile on an international tour through the region. She has carried that message from the streets and landfills of Santiago to international climate conferences and United Nations negotiations. At Iztapalapa’s Forum on Inclusive Circular Economy, she spoke directly to Mexican pepenadores confronting a pivotal question: Will the country’s new circular economy become a route out of invisibility, or another lucrative industry that leaves them behind? A push for legal recognition Arnold Ricalde, environmental adviser to Iztapalapa Mayor Aleida Alavez Ruiz and principal organizer of the forum, summa...