Reimagining waste management in Fortaleza, Brazil
Fortaleza has almost no citywide waste and recycling infrastructure. Like in many other Brazilian cities, an estimated 8,000 catadores — who are not formally employed by the city — form the backbone of its waste management system, providing most of its pickup services and selling collected recyclables to third parties to earn a living.
While the Brazilian government has made efforts to formalise the job in recent decades, most catadores face hazardous working conditions. Many pull up to 240 kilograms (530 pounds) of waste over the course of an 18-hour workday using hand-drawn carts. Salaries fluctuate based on how much each person collects and what they can sell it for, with the average Fortaleza waste picker often taking in just R$300 (about US$53) a month.
Meanwhile, trash accumulates. In 2023, a mere 6% of Fortaleza’s recyclables ended up in processing facilities, leaving curbsides crammed with trash bags and cardboard boxes. “Sometimes, Fortaleza is not a clean city,” admitted local restaurant owner Manu Duvale. “We live with trash as if it’s nothing.”
But for the past four years, Fortaleza’s recycling problem — and the catadores’ jobs — have been gradually improving. This is largely thanks to an innovative project called Re-Ciclo led by the Fortaleza government’s Innovation Laboratory. And e-tricycle warriors like Aires are powering the change.
Re-Ciclo has worked to both uplift Fortaleza’s catadores and expand its recycling infrastructure by redefining how the city manages waste. Central to this effort is a fleet of electric tricycles that has enabled the city’s first-ever door-to-door collection service for recyclables while also strengthening its cycling system for all residents.
Re-Ciclo has reimagined what a catador can do.
Through the programme, catadores now collect recyclables along specific routes through the city’s neighbourhoods, stopping by homes and apartments where residents have requested recycling pick-up. The recyclables are deposited at one of dozens of “eco-points” — a network of collection centres — where they are sorted and cleaned by waste pickers and then sold to recycling intermediaries. Re-Ciclo revamped this once ineffective collection infrastructure to support the programme.
But Re-Ciclo is not just a waste collection program. It’s also significantly improved the catadores’ working conditions.
In most cases, better recycling has translated to more efficient work and more stable pay for Re-Ciclo workers. Raquel Silva, president of the Moura Brasil Waste Pickers Association, explained that she can now visit 10-16 collection sites per trip before returning to the eco-points in the same time it used to take her to visit 3-4 sites.
The program also collects data along pick-up routes, enabling catadores to track the volume of their collected recyclables and drive better salary negotiations. Re-Ciclo encourages unaffiliated waste pickers to join associations to drive more collective bargaining power.
Thanks to a more stable income and reliable collection monitoring, most workers now receive significantly higher salaries — up to 500% above previous levels. “Today, the waste collector who is part of Re-Ciclo earns his daily wage for the goals achieved,” Pereira said. “[The waste collector] has transportation vouchers, has meal vouchers, and is now valued.”
'Catadores' now collect recyclables along specific routes through the city's neighbourhoods, stopping by homes where residents have requeste
