Waste picker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A scavenger pouring water onto the paper she has collected, in order to increase the weight of, and thus the profit made from, her collection, in Hong Kong.

A waste picker, or a scavenger, is a person who picks out recyclable elements from mixed waste wherever it may be temporarily accessible or disposed of ^[1].

Waste pickers may be employed in material recovery facilities or mechanical biological treatment systems to manually recover recylables as opposed to automated systems.

In developing countries waste pickers may seek the financial value of the recyclable elements themselves to sell on or use.

A waste picker is different from a waste collector, the waste collected by the latter may be destined to the landfill or to the incinerator, not necessarily for recycling.

[edit] References

1. ^ Solid Waste Management Glossary

[edit] External links

• Scavenger Cooperatives in Asia and Latin America (PDF)

This waste-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.