A Community Trash Walk 395
A community trades trash for cash
The shantytowns of Curitiba, Brazil, had many open waste pits. They were
breeding grounds for disease-carrying rodents. To deal with this problem, the
Curitiba city council launched a program called “Don’t Throw Away Your
Garbage—We Buy It.” The city council figured out how much it would cost to
clean up the open dumps. Then, instead of hiring an outside company to do the
job, they figured out what the cost would be for each bag of trash, and offered
this amount to the residents.
Besides earning money for the trash they collected, every person was given a
free public transit ticket for each bag they delivered to a municipal collection
truck. Because these neighborhoods are located far from the city center, these
tickets were highly prized. The city also donated money for each bag collected
to develop community gardens and other projects. Areas that were once piled
high with garbage were transformed into urban gardens or parks with trees.
Community health improved.
Recent immigrants, people with disabilities, or others who needed work
were given safe jobs sorting waste at a resource recovery center. Food scraps
and garden waste were composted for use in city parks and local farms and
gardens. Plastic and metal were sold to local industries. Plastic foam was
shredded and used to fill blankets.
A few years after the program began, the city made the project even
better. They began buying food directly from farmers close to the city at a
fair price, and offered people a bag of fresh food in exchange for a bag of
garbage. This helped the farmers sell their produce, improved the nutrition of
the families in the shantytowns, and cleaned up the city.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012