Bouvier, Mathilde and Sonia M. Dias. Waste Pickers in Brazil: A Statistical Profile. WIEGO Statistical Brief No. 29.
Brazil has been a leader in recognizing its more than 281,000 informal waste pickers in recycling chains and in the country’s official statistics.
This Statistical Brief employs official data from 2002-2019 to examine how many catadores collect, sort and sell what others have discarded throughout Brazil. It looks at the numbers, sex, geographic locations, ages, education levels, membership in associations and status of employment of these informal workers.
Also available in Portuguese.
This brief is part of the WIEGO Publication Series and was funded by the Open Society Foundation's Women's Rights Programme.
View list of all WIEGO briefs.