Artisanship - Opportunities and Limitations

Although the recycling industry comprises a huge international market, it is one that operates largely out of the public eye. Sure, we know that local governments as well as private businesses operate recycling programs that feed materials into production supply chains, but we have no real sense of how this process works or on what scale it exists. As soon as the materials leave our doorstep, they are gone as far as we are concerned. In Brazil, the recycling market is more present in our daily lives; we see constant reminders simply by driving through town and noting the number of catadores pulling their carts through the streets. Even so, it is not easy to connect these images with the large manufacturing plants that actually process materials into products we use in our daily lives.

In fact, the most visible element of recycling is not the industrial process but rather a unique and important niche market: artisanship. Almost all of us have come across these artisanal products at some point or other: artwork, musical instruments, or household goods decorated with recycled materials. These items are meant to move us emotionally: to invoke wonder and amazement at their creation, to remind us of the beauty and potential of the products we so carelessly discard, and to inspire us to rethink our patterns of consumption and our relationship with Mother Earth. This artisanship helps us to remember why recycling matters.

For the catadores, using artisanship to build consciousness is a tremendous boon to their work. It provides visibility for their organizations and encourages residents to sign on as local partners in their efforts by separating their waste, donating materials, and putting political pressure on municipal government actors. Artisanship helps to connect catadores to society.

But it is about more than just building consciousness. It is about helping the catadores to develop pride and learn to value their work. For people who are often used to being considered “dirty” and “marginalized,” seeing the inner beauty of recycling can be incredibly moving. As ordinary people marvel at a sculpture molded from aluminum cans, catadores begin to recognize the role they play in society. As I have mentioned before, pride is one of the key elements of this movement.

In addition, artisanship provides an outlet for catadores to demonstrate and develop their creativity. With the direction of a talented artist, catadores can take time to make their own artisanal products, providing a nice change of pace and a new learning experience. The most visible example of this was the art produced by Vik Muniz, captured in “Lixo Extraordinário” (see earlier post). Here in Belo Horizonte, ASMARE hires local artists to work with them on artisanal projects. Many of the projects produced in the association are then put on sale at Reciclo, a popular restaurant in downtown Belo Horizonte run by ASMARE itself (more on Reciclo in a later post on income diversification).

However, it is important not to become too bullish on the potential for artisanship in the cooperatives. Yes, its potential for promoting consciousness, pride and creativity is significant, and the extra income it provides cannot be discounted. But at the end of the day, artisanship is a niche market with limited room for expansion. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the recycling market is huge. Its base is the industrial manufacturing process used to create new products, not artwork used to decorate living rooms. The art market saturates very quickly and cannot possible accommodate all of the inorganic waste generated by society on a daily basis. It is important to develop artisanship in the cooperatives, but it is certainly not a panacea for waste issues. While the catadores should embrace artisanship and learn how to use it to their advantage, they must continue to focus on their role in the industrial recycling process.

A related issue is the question of recycling finished products. On a daily basis our society discards quality products still available for use: computers, couches, televisions, all sorts of items that others would be happy to take off our hands. In Itauna, Coopert maintains a museum of some of these materials – lamps, chairs, etc. This phenomenon raises an important question: can we use recycling as a way to transfer materials from the wealthy to the poor on a voluntary basis? This is, of course, incredibly common already in modern day society. People donate old clothes, toys, and other items they no longer want. But often, these items are not properly matched with what recipients want or need. Furthermore, donations can have unexpected consequences, principally the “dumping” of goods (most commonly food and clothes) into a market, thus undermining domestic industrial production of such goods and promoting long-term dependency. Recycling such products through the work of catadores offers an alternative model. By selectively picking through waste and choosing the objects that have value to them, catadores invert the system. Rather than having the donors simply force their products onto recipients, recipients are able to choose what they accept. Could organizations of catadores help to expand and systematize the donation process and recyclable valuable goods that the poor actually want? It is an idea that presents many challenges, but it is certainly interesting to consider.

oHo