These questions were the subject of a 2022–2023 WIEGO study developed in partnership with the University of Sheffield. The national survey in Brazil was conducted in response to a need to know more about climate change that emerged from a collaborative planning process by the waste pickers’ group “As Bonitas do MNCR” (National Movement of Waste Pickers). In this study, 91% of survey respondents indicated that climate change was already affecting their lives and work. When we launched the survey, little did we know that the climate emergency would take on dramatic proportions with the May 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul. On the first anniversary of that tragedy, WIEGO and MNCR reflect on what happened from the waste pickers’ point of view.
The flooding disaster was considered the biggest in the state’s history, impacting 478 municipalities, affecting 2,398,255 people, and resulting in a total of 183 confirmed deaths. As Neice Muller Xavier Faria points out in his 2025 article in the journal Revista Brazileira de Saúde Ocupacional – RBSO, the vast impacts of this climate event are likely to last for a long time, causing suffering for workers from different areas and overburdening public structures and officials.
Climate change has contributed to the increased frequency of floods, which have become increasingly intense. Flooding increases the risk of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera caused by polluted water as well as and trauma injuries. The loss of lives and property also harm those affected psychologically and economically. The negligence of public authorities in planning for extreme events and developing adaptive strategies to increase urban resilience fails residents, especially those who are most vulnerable.
Highlighting devastating effects on waste pickers is crucial
Workers in the informal economy, including waste pickers, were seriously affected. According to an assessment made by a representative of MNCR shortly after the tragedy, six of the 13 waste picker cooperatives in Porto Alegre were completely submerged, with 400 people directly affected by the flooding. In the municipality of Canoas, another six cooperatives were flooded, and 140 workers were directly affected. Five recycling units were impacted in another city, São Leopoldo, affecting 75 people. The workplaces of waste pickers in the towns of Novo Hamburgo and Guaíba were also affected. In Porto Alegre, in addition to the waste pickers in cooperatives, the floods damaged the livelihoods of nearly 1,500 street waste pickers as they were concentrated in the areas with most devastation — the islands and the northern zone.
Highlighting the impacts of extreme events on waste pickers is highly relevant in the growing climate emergency. These workers in informal employment who contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) must be included in public policies that maximize the role that their sector offers at no cost to cities and industries. As waste pickers told a panel on climate change at Expocatador 2024, the impacts of the May 2024 climate disaster affected not only their homes but also their workspaces because, with the flooding, the infrastructure of the sorting warehouses was damaged, making them difficult to access. This and the loss of equipment and materials through the flooding was a major impediment to work and income.
Unprepared cities meant waste pickers were left largely unaided
One waste picker reported at Expocatador how their homes had been affected, with many waste pickers left homeless, and how limited the assistance given by the City Hall had been: “I also lost my house and, to this day, I haven’t returned to it, (some) days I stay at the cooperative and (other) days I stay at my mother’s house. That’s how I’ve been living day by day...We were mistreated at the public shelter. When we returned to the cooperative, we saw everything destroyed by the flood...the City Hall hasn’t helped us at all so far.”
It is important to highlight how the impacts of floods on waste pickers’ workspaces harms their health and increases their risks related to sharp objects. During heavy rainfall, paper and cardboard deteriorate fast. As these materials soften, fragments of glass or other sharp objects become more adherent and waste pickers can no longer perceive them by the noise they usually make or by fine touch. Health risks are increased through the proliferation of fungi and bacteria, and decaying food and waste attracting rodents, their predators and disease-transmitting insects. As well as affecting workers' health, this also causes them to suffer drastic economic losses. The lack of contingency plans and climate-sensitive strategies for dealing with the climate catastrophe in Rio Grande do Sul increased the level of vulnerability to which waste pickers were already exposed. Despite the lack of effective measures by the municipal authorities, the waste pickers responded and mobilized their support networks, organizing four solidarity campaigns as a form of aid: two in Porto Alegre, one nationally, and one internationally. The tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul has clearly highlighted how unprepared Brazilian cities are to deal with extreme weather events.
Urban planning and policy must include waste pickers
Adapting cities to climate change is one of the significant challenges of urban planning in Brazil and worldwide. The culture and routines of urban planning have not yet included the challenges brought about by climate change or the issues linked to the climate justice agenda. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014), adaptation to climate change is related to the process of adjusting natural and human systems to current and future climate behaviour. In human systems, adaptation seeks to reduce and prevent potential harm and to explore beneficial opportunities arising from such change; and in natural systems, human intervention aims to support adjusting these systems to the current and future climate and its effects.
Therefore, it is essential to emphasize the importance of drawing up municipal climate adaptation plans that identify the specific vulnerabilities of different groups, including waste pickers. Also, public policies must be specifically designed to increase the resilience of waste pickers, who already contribute to GHG mitigation through their activities. This is a climate justice issue. In addition to this, it is critical that waste pickers are engaged in the discussions on and production of reliable data on climate change impacts. This must be done systematically and continuously, as the production of evidence-based public policies becomes increasingly important.
A call for cities to see that increasing waste pickers’ resilience will boost all
One year after the tragedy, we call on city governments to understand that by increasing the climate resilience of waste pickers, cities will ultimately improve their resilience as a whole. After all, as a waste picker who took part in WIEGO’s 2023 survey said, waste pickers are the “doctors of the environment.”