Abstract
The article discusses the economy of recycling in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan region, specifically the work of waste collectors, and develops an ethnographic reflection on a commercial circuit in which 'waste' is transformed into 'recyclable material.' It focuses specifically on the section of the circuit located between the waste dump and the local collectors associations, describing the types of labour organization found in these spaces. Focusing on the objects and the practices in which they are mobilized, the article shows how waste collection involves processes of recreating value from discarded physical objects. The activity of 'beating the material' reveals the existence of a sensory knowledge, a detailed classificatory system and a set of techniques utilized by the collectors in relation to plastic materials. Developing the analysis further, the article presents cases of objects whose diverted trajectories shed light on the indeterminacy of waste in terms of value.
Keywords:
Collectors of recyclable materials; recycling; value; plastic; waste management
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