Of recyclers and rag men

AFTER Argentina’s economy crashed in 2001, the ranks of informal workers grew along with those of the unemployed. In Buenos Aires, the capital, destitute citizens picked through rubbish to collect anything worth recycling, sold crafts on the pavement, charged drivers to “protect” their parked vehicles and cleaned car windscreens at red lights. Although the economy is now stronger, the scavengers and car-watchers have not gone away. But they have met with very different fates.

In 2013 the local government conferred formal status on cartoneros¸ workers who comb the city for cardboard and plastic which they sell to recyclers. It recognised 12 of the co-operatives into which they are organised and provided them with uniforms, health plans and cash incentives on top of their earnings from selling rubbish. “With the monthly bonus I can afford things for my family now that I couldn’t before,” says Gabriel Aquino as he loads plastic bottles into a battered pickup. “And I’m actually around to see them, because there are set hours.”