Plastic bottles picked from garbage

wcbaytoven

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A question, or several.

Can one please share with me the reason for the fellows out nights hunting the plastic bottles from the street garbage? Of course there is a reason for this. I cannot imagine they are all environmentalists and picking them out for the health of mother earth, and without remuneration. Therefore, there must be some remuneration. Does anyone know where these fellows deposit the plastic, and the payrate per kilo?

Second question. Why, if there is money to be made at this, has no-one tapped the unbelievably rich vein of plastic bottles which have accumulated upon the rocky shoures of the river plate? Walking in the ecological reserve along the banks of the river and gazing out at the hills of Uruguay while contemplating his suicide, one bears witness to the wealth of plastic bottles there, knee-deep in some areas. My guesses to the reasoning behind their neglection as follows. One, perhaps the park does not allow it, for some reason, or would not allow the necessary tumbrel in through the gates to sully the landscape while the bottles are squired from the river to the entry. Two, perhaps the bottle pickers are simply too lazy to walk the necessary distance, gate to riverbank and return, several times as would be necessary over several days or weeks to collect the wealth of bottles waiting there. Three, the bottle pickers, somehow, are ignorant of the bonanza of plastic along that stretch of river. Four, the sun has rendered those bottles, through exposure to the strong influence of the UV light, unfit for recycling or whatever process is done to the bottles after they are turned in. Those complete my four guesses.

If there is money to be made here, i wish to make it. The great harvest of bottles along the river simply cannot have been entirely overlooked if this was a paying exercise. If this is a paying exercise, I'll need a partner.
 
Although not a direct answer, do any of the people you see doing this look as though they make a good living out of it? :rolleyes:
 
1) They are cartoneros (trash pickers): they have even formed an independent consortium to resell the recyclable materials they collect. Check online under "cartoneros" and you will find plenty of entries to have a better overview of who these people are.
2) I am not sure authorities want to mess with these people and create their own governmental consortium for recyclable materials as that would mean having more poor people without a job to support.
 
Not that long ago the cartoneros in many barrios started sporting official city uniforms, so although I am not sure what the connection is I believe to at least some degree their "job" has been made semi-official, which I think is great. As to the original poster... you're serious about picking up the bottles in the river for cash? Why not do a good deed and retrieve the bottles, then donate them to the cartoneros. Do mother earth and the poor both a favor. :)

(on another note, we separate our recyclables, and the cartoneros in our area seem to appreciate not always having to rifle through everything. It would be great if this practice could be applied city-wide!)
 
I thanks for the responces. Clearly nobody is being made rich from this venture. Yet has no-one seen the amazing surplus of plastic heaped on the rocks of the riverbank, sitting there, right on top of the ground like earthquake oil? My experience has only carried me along the stretch of river running past the ecological preserve. In that stretch alone, enough plastic which could not be harvested from a month's worth of sifting through nightly garbage. There must be some reason that one would spend a night digging in stinking foulness rather than collecting the mounds and mounds of bottles sitting right on the ground, clean as anything. Whether it be laws, lassitude, or ignorance of the bounty, there is some reason. I must know that reason.

To the one who would suggest that I work to harvest the abundance myself only to donate the fruits of my labor to bums who had the exact same opportunity at the pickings as I did, you flatter me with your overestimation of my financial stability. I've no interest in "mother" earth, and the poor can work for their harvest same as would I. This world is no place for hand-outs.
 
wcbaytoven said:
I thanks for the responces. Clearly nobody is being made rich from this venture. Yet has no-one seen the amazing surplus of plastic heaped on the rocks of the riverbank, sitting there, right on top of the ground like earthquake oil? My experience has only carried me along the stretch of river running past the ecological preserve. In that stretch alone, enough plastic which could not be harvested from a month's worth of sifting through nightly garbage. There must be some reason that one would spend a night digging in stinking foulness rather than collecting the mounds and mounds of bottles sitting right on the ground, clean as anything. Whether it be laws, lassitude, or ignorance of the bounty, there is some reason. I must know that reason.

To the one who would suggest that I work to harvest the abundance myself only to donate the fruits of my labor to bums who had the exact same opportunity at the pickings as I did, you flatter me with your overestimation of my financial stability. I've no interest in "mother" earth, and the poor can work for their harvest same as would I. This world is no place for hand-outs.

If you wanna make money that way India is your place: heaps and heaps of bottles abandoned everywhere (rivers, mountains, villages, big cities...you name it!)
 
wcbaytoven said:
I thanks for the responces. Clearly nobody is being made rich from this venture. Yet has no-one seen the amazing surplus of plastic heaped on the rocks of the riverbank, sitting there, right on top of the ground like earthquake oil? My experience has only carried me along the stretch of river running past the ecological preserve. In that stretch alone, enough plastic which could not be harvested from a month's worth of sifting through nightly garbage. There must be some reason that one would spend a night digging in stinking foulness rather than collecting the mounds and mounds of bottles sitting right on the ground, clean as anything. Whether it be laws, lassitude, or ignorance of the bounty, there is some reason. I must know that reason.

To the one who would suggest that I work to harvest the abundance myself only to donate the fruits of my labor to bums who had the exact same opportunity at the pickings as I did, you flatter me with your overestimation of my financial stability. I've no interest in "mother" earth, and the poor can work for their harvest same as would I. This world is no place for hand-outs.
Geez what a nice guy you are sir!:confused: remember Karma is a bitch:)
 
wcbaytoven said:
Clearly nobody is being made rich from this venture.

Sure not those in the low end of the chain (cartoneros). Somebody is providing them with trucks (and even trains not long ago) for transportation. We have two options here:

1. Government program assisting people in need.

2. Private enterprises exploiting people in need and making money. Government involved.

You may (or may not) want to investigate further.
 
If there was only a motivation for keeping the dog crap off the streets of BsAs...
 
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