Social Science Research Council
Alex Nading
Brokering Garbage
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Back in March of 2008, garbage scavengers shut down the dump in Managua (known as La Chureca), protesting the fact that garbage collectors were selecting "garbage of value" from their routes and selling it to junk dealers ("chatarreros"). Conflicts between Ciudad Sandino's own "churequeros" and city garbage collectors have arisen as well. This picture shows garbage collectors in Ciudad Sandino unloading a sack of plastic bottles to sell.
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Two children waited as an attendant weighed their load of aluminum cans and plastic bottles. One of the problems with the controversy over who has a right to "garbage of value" is that "churequeros" no longer work exclusively in city dumps. I met school children, householders, and professionals who collected and sold "chatarra" (plastic, aluminum, bronze, scrap metal, and paper) for extra money. The number of small-scale buyers like this one has grown rapidly throughout greater Managua over the past few years. I have counted nearly 20 in Ciudad Sanino alone.
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This boy came to sell a bag of copper wire, the most prized form of chatarra. At the time of this photo, copper was selling for about U$2.25 per pound, aluminum for just over 50 cents, and bronze for about $1.00. These prices are all close to record highs. For example, a decade ago, a pound of aluminum sold for 1 córdoba (roughly 10 cents at that time). Scavengers who work in dumps are thus not only competing with professional garbage collectors but also seeing valuable scrap mined out of the stream before it ever touches a garbage bag.
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Plastic is the most abundant form of chatarra, as well as the cheapest, at just over 8 U.S. cents per pound. Ironically, however, buyers and knowledgeable sellers were more selective with it, rejecting plastic bottles that were dirty or broken, and leaving tops behind. This photo is of a chatarrera sorting yard, where buyers store their purchases. The storing of chatarra has also been a point of controversy, since large piles of garbage provide perfect breeding grounds for disease carrying insects. This is to say nothing of the mounds of unsellable (dirty, broken) plastic in the streets and sewers of the city.
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After the bottles, cans, and other material were weighed and sorted, scavengers awaited payment at this desk. From this buyer, most of the material would go in bulk to larger brokers in Managua, and from there on to the global market for scrap materials. The rest would be sold to local metalworkers, who make tools, building materials, cooking pots, and decorative items out of bronze, aluminum, and steel. The growth of the chatarra business has taken many Nicaraguan leaders by surprise, but in Ciudad Sandino, junk brokers have become a prominent presence in social life. The owner of this shop was selected by primary voters to be one of the Sandinista Party's slate of candidates for the city council.
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