https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etJhBx8U_sc

CATADORAS AND CATADORES: The work in recycling cooperatives

The video lasts 27 minutes and describes the work of organized recyclers (catadores) pervading many social, economic, political and environmental issues.

Lunch and Learn at the David Suzuki foundation in Vancouver, B.C.

A discussion about solid waste incineration and better forms of resource recovery.

Beyond Gramacho (Part 1 and 2)

The video reveals the socio-economic and environmental conditions, struggles and opportunities of informal and organized resource recovery. Until 2012 over 1800 catadores worked day and night at the landfill of Gramacho and in neighbouring recycling cooperatives, collecting recyclable materials from the dump. The video begins by taking the viewer through a squatter settlement beside the landfill, where many of the recyclers and their families live. The film illustrates the national recyclers’ movement, the Movimento Nacional dos Catadores de Materiais Reciclaveis, and showcases successful experiences from Greater Metropolitan São Paulo and some of the hurdles to still overcome. Catadores are still a very stigmatized and marginalized segment of society in many countries, despite the important work they perform by recovering resources.

Além de Gramacho (Parte 1 e 2)

Além de Gramacho revela as condições sócio-econômicas e ambientais, e as dificuldades e oportunidades presentes na recuperação de materiais recicláveis no Brasil. O documentário leva o espectador a visitar uma área residencial, um assentamento, ao lado do aterro, onde muitos dos catadores habitam com suas famílias. O vídeo ainda introduz o movimento social dos catadores, e mostra algumas experiências bem sucedidas com cooperativas de catadores que estão ocorrendo na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo.

Binning through Victoria

A Participatory Video project conducted with Binners (recyclers) in Victoria, Canada reveals their perspectives, experiences and challenges of working in Victoria. The video was taken by the Binners themselves after having participated in the video training workshop. At the beginning the video takes the viewer on a tour of the Binners’ traplines. In a pilot project specifically designed tent-trailers were distributed to improve the quality of life of the binders, who are often also homeless.

Participatory Video Practitioners Toolkit

This video highlights a Participatory Video (PV) project conducted with recyclers in Brazil and Canada. The PV toolkit documents some of the major steps within the PV process and reveals how it can be a powerful tool for empowerment and in designing public policy.

The Participatory Sustainable Waste Management project (PSWM)

Participatory Sustainable Waste Management (PSWM) started as a project collaboration between the University of Victoria (UVic) and the Faculty of Education at the University of São Paulo, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), under the AUCC-UPCD program. The project focused on capacity development to generate income and improve the quality of life of informal and organized recyclers (called catadores), while promoting environmental sustainability and inclusive public policies on integrated waste management. The video demonstrates the participatory and inclusive approach taken in this project.

ABC-Coopcent: a secondary recycling cooperative

The ABC-Coopcent network was created within the PSWM project, in 2008. The network operates in seven cities in the greater metropolitan region of São Paulo. The video shoes the door-to-door collection and the separation of recyclables at the cooperatives and the collective commercialization of some of the materials by the network. Selling the resources directly to the industries pays better prices. Coopcent also owns a small enterprise transforming plastic (PET) bottles into clothesline. Two bottles are enough to generate 10 meters of clothesline, an example for added value to the recyclable materials.