All-terrain parents search for their livelihood in the garbage

Dominican Republic—At 7:30 a.m., José Alfredo López Casado, with his rubber boots on, goes out with his family to collect and sort garbage at the Cienfuegos landfill.

With this work, he has supported his family for more than 15 years and built his own business, buying small bottles and gallons of plastics, metals, and cans and then reselling them to a larger company.

José Alfredo, a plumber for more than 20 years before entering this trade, says his wife introduced him to the recycling business approximately 15 years ago since she and his two daughters worked as “divers” there.

He explained that he buys plastic bottles per sack from the landfill divers for between 200 and 250 pesos and then resells them to a recycling company for between 4 and 5 pesos per pound. Likewise, the cans have a value of 5 pesos per pound, and each plastic gallon costs 4 pesos per unit.

López Casado states this business has generated up to 100,000 pesos a week. He says that many men and women make a living “diving” in the tons of garbage that arrive at this community’s landfill, looking for plastic bottles, gallons, metals, and clothes. The only problem is that sometimes the sun itches too much, there is a lot of dust, and the garbage stinks a little.”

This 61-year-old father has three children he raised with his work, turning it into a family business. “As long as the children are well, if you can help them in any way, it’s all good,” he added. José Alfredo and his family have built their house with this family business, obtained several vehicles, and “always have something to eat.”

José Osvaldo Almonte

Almonte has worked at the Rafael landfill since he was eight. Today, he is 45 and has three children, ages 16, 14, and 12. His only income comes from recycling.

Lucia Almonte’s mother says that “he got his teeth into the landfill. Since he was a little boy, he used to escape from school to go to the dump to collect glass and plastic bottles and sell them by weight.”

Today, he divides his time between his animals—cows and pigs—and his job recycling in Rafey. He goes out early in the morning to search through the large piles of garbage for valuables to support his family.

His biggest fear is that an accident could happen, and he could be crushed by a truck or a grade while searching through the large piles of garbage.

He recycles today as a family business with his wife and children, he goes to the landfill, looks for valuables and sorts them into large groups, his wife sorts them into more specific groups based on size or type, and they resell them by the pound.

Javier Toribio

Javier Toribio is another father of a family who has helped his four children, 17, 15, 12, and 2 years old, and his wife with their work in the western zone of Santiago.

He has been diving in dumps and ravines for about four years, collecting plastic bottles, metals, and gallons. He explains that these materials are sold by the pound and that the truck can load up to 5,000 pounds of plastics in a day’s work.

He assures that an important motivation for his interest in this job is the environment. He has come across ravines in precarious conditions, and this is how he has to help.

He says this work allows him to earn up to 50,000 pesos a week, depending on how much garbage he can collect and classify. These men live daily with the contamination of waste, the bad smell, and being under an infernal heat. They get in the waste of others and how to bring bread to their family.