在垃圾堆中沮喪--新冠病毒對全球的拾荒者構成新挑戰

 

Down in the dumps 在垃圾堆中沮喪

Covid-19 has posed new challenges to the world’s waste-pickers 

新冠病毒對全球的拾荒者構成新挑戰

Those who are better organised have prospered more

組織性較佳的業者更富裕

International

Dec 19th 2020 edition

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Dec 19th 2020

KAMPALA, LUSAKA, MUMBAI, SÃO PAULO AND YANGON

At the northern edge of Lusaka, in Zambia, the 24-hectare Chunga landfill smoulders in the midday sun, its sour smoke scalding the nose and throat. Wesley Kambizi works nine-hour days on the dump with just a beanie and mismatched sneakers for protection: one slip-on, one lace-up, both caked in mud. Local authorities intermittently threaten to bar waste-pickers like him from the site. Worsening poverty in the city means both that more people are scavenging at the landfill and that fewer valuable scraps make it there in the first place.

在尚比亞盧薩卡的北部邊緣，占地24公頃的中嘉垃圾掩埋場在正午的陽光下悶燒，臭酸的煙霧灼燒著鼻子和喉嚨。坎比茲（Wesley Kambizi）在垃圾場工作了9個小時，只戴了頂小圓帽和一雙不相搭的運動鞋做防護：一隻沒鞋帶，一雙有鞋帶，兩隻都凝結著泥塊。地方當局斷斷續續揚言禁止像他這樣的拾荒者進入垃圾場。城市裡貧窮惡化，意味著一開始就進入掩埋場的值錢廢棄物減少，撿破爛的人卻更多了。

The world’s cities produce over 2bn tonnes of solid waste every year. Even before the covid-19 pandemic local governments in poor countries struggled to keep their streets clean, clearing less than half the rubbish in urban areas and around a quarter in the countryside. Informal workers, who make up around 80% of the 19m-24m workers in the waste industry, have helped plug that gap. They both haul rubbish and scour municipal dumps and public spaces for things which can be re-used or sold, normally through middlemen, to recycling companies. In India waste-pickers divert over 40m tonnes of refuse away from landfills and into recycling every year, a task that would cost municipalities 15-20% of their annual budget. In South Africa they are responsible for recovering 80-90% of packaging.

全球城市每年產生超過20億公噸的固體廢棄物，即使在新冠疫情爆發前，窮國地方政府維持街道清潔就很費力，城區垃圾清運不到一半，鄉間更只清了四分之一。. 垃圾處理業從業人員1,900萬至2,400萬人，非正式勞工約占80％，有助彌補人力缺口。 他們拖運垃圾，並且搜索市立垃圾場和公共場所，尋找可再利用或轉售之物，通常透過中間人賣給回收公司。印度拾荒者每年將超過4,000萬公噸的垃圾從掩埋場移到回收處，這項任務本可能要耗費市政府15%至20％的年度預算。在南非他們負責回收80-90％的包裝材料。

Some, like Mr Kambizi, do the job full-time; others resort to waste-picking only when times are hard. The pandemic has enlarged their ranks. Birungi Hidaya lost her job as a teacher in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, soon after the pandemic struck. Now she works the Kiteezi landfill. She turns her nose up at the other scavengers on the dump, labelling them “ignorant” and “not civilised at all”.

有些人如坎比茲做為全職，其他人只在落魄時才仰賴拾荒。疫病流行擴大了拾荒業的成員。疫情發生不久，比蘭吉（Birungi Hidaya）失去在烏干達首都康培拉的教師職位，現在Kiteezi垃圾掩埋場工作。她對其他拾荒者嗤之以鼻，稱他們「愚昧」且「毫無文明」。

The lay-offs that have come with the pandemic have seen more people like Ms Birungi eking out a living by collecting, sorting and selling rubbish. But the pandemic has also created new problems for waste-pickers.

疫情伴隨的裁員使更多的人像比蘭吉靠收集、分類和出售垃圾維生。但是疫情也為拾荒者帶來新的問題。

The first is getting to the waste. South Africa failed to classify waste-picking as an essential service during this year’s lockdowns, leaving thousands stuck at home at risk of starvation. In Accra and Kumasi, cities in Ghana, those who live off the landfills worry that local governments will use the pandemic as an excuse to decommission the dumps, something they have long aspired to do.

首先是到達垃圾場。今年封鎖期間，南非未將撿拾廢棄物歸類為必要服務，數千人困在家中挨餓。在迦納的阿克拉和庫馬西，依靠垃圾場生活的人擔心，地方政府會以疫情為藉口使垃圾場退役，這是政府渴望已久的事。

Panicked citizens make matters worse. In Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, Thiha used to make 500,000 kyat ($370) every month as an independent waste-collector in a working-class area. When a second wave of covid-19 hit in early September people began erecting makeshift barricades around their neighbourhoods, denying him access. His earnings fell by a third.

恐慌的公民使事情變得更糟。 在緬甸商業重鎮仰光，提哈（Thiha）以前在工人階級區擔任獨立拾荒者，月入50萬緬元（約370美元）。當9月初第二波新冠疫情來襲時，人們開始在住家周遭搭建臨時路障，拒絕他進入。他的收入下降了三分之一。

It is not just the people who are keeping Mr Thiha from the rubbish. The pandemic is producing a lot more medical waste. The amount of it produced in China’s Hubei province increased by 370% after the outbreak began. Manila and Jakarta are expected to produce an extra 280 and 210 tonnes every day, respectively. The Yangon City Development Committee (ycdc) is struggling to keep this sort of dangerous refuse away from the public in general and people like Mr Thiha in particular. It has been tasked with collecting, separating and burning the 50 tonnes of rubbish produced by hospitals and quarantine centres every day. (The sad duty of cremating victims of covid-19 has also fallen to the ycdc. “That’s a different job and also a stressful job for my people,” sighs Aung Myint Maw, deputy director of the sanitation department.)

不僅是讓提哈遠離垃圾的人們，疫情還製造更多的醫療廢棄物。疫情爆發後，中國湖北省醫療廢棄物增加370％，馬尼拉和雅加達每天分別估增280噸和210噸。仰光市發展協會（ycdc）努力使這種危險垃圾遠離一般群眾及像提哈這樣特別的人。他們的任務是每天收集、隔離和燃燒醫院和檢疫中心產生的50噸垃圾。將新冠疫亡者火化的可悲責任也落到ycdc頭上。衛生部門副主任莫夫嘆道：「這對我的員工來說是另一項工作，而且壓力很大。」。

Such care reflects a genuine concern. Some of the proliferation of pandemic-associated waste has been a benefit to litterpickers—think of all those tiddly little bottles of hand sanitiser. But in poor cities that lack the infrastructure to segregate medical waste it can be a real problem.

這種照顧反映出真正的關切。疫情相關廢棄物部分擴散對拾荒者來說是一個益處-想想所有那些小巧的手部消毒瓶。但是在缺乏基礎設施來隔開醫療廢棄物的貧困城市，這可能是真正的問題。

Scientists believe covid-19 is transmitted via tiny droplets that people exhale as they breathe, talk and cough. These virus particles can remain infective after a day spent on cardboard, at least two days on steel and three on plastic. Rifling through rubbish is never particularly safe from a health point of view; this year’s influx of infected material makes the business even riskier, particularly for those without personal protective equipment (ppe) and little understanding of how the disease spreads.

科學家認為，新冠病毒藉由人們呼吸、說話和咳嗽時呼出的飛沫傳播。這些病毒微粒沾染紙板一天、鋼板至少兩天、塑膠三天後仍具有傳染力。從健康的角度來看，在垃圾堆裡亂翻從未特別安全。今年湧入受感染用具使資源回收業的風險更大，尤其是對於那些沒有個人防護設備（ppe）且對疾病傳播方式了解甚少的人。

The falling price of recyclables presents a third problem. The formal recycling industry ground to a halt when countries closed their borders, making it impossible to ferry waste to the big plants which process it. There are fewer end-buyers for the plastic, paper and metal that scavengers collect. Data from the city of Pune in India show the price of polyethylene terephthalate, the plastic used to make water bottles, has dropped to as little as 10 rupees ($0.01) per kilogram from 22 rupees before the pandemic (see chart). Cardboard is two rupees per kilogram, half what it was.

回收物的價格下降產生了第三個問題。各國關閉邊界後，正規的回收業因無法將廢棄物運送到大型工廠處理，陷入停頓。拾荒者收集的塑料、紙張和金屬的最終買家少了。印度浦那的數據顯示，用於製造水瓶的塑料聚對苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）的每公斤價格從疫情前的22盧比跌至10盧比（0.01美元），紙板則腰斬至每公斤2盧比。

That has been devastating for Rani Shivsharan, who has been collecting waste in Pune for over 25 years. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature Swachh Bharat, or Clean India, mission, the local authority does not recognise her work. Ms Shivsharan has not received any cash transfers or food rations since covid struck. There are days when she survives on tea. “I am scared, but what can I do?” she asks.

這對希夫沙蘭（Rani Shivsharan）來說是場災難，她在浦那收集廢棄物超過25年。儘管總理莫迪（Narendra Modi）簽署Swachh Bharat--即「清潔印度」運動，但地方當局不承認她的工作。自疫情來襲後，希夫沙蘭未收到任何現金轉帳或食物配給，有許多天只靠喝茶存活。 「我很害怕，但是我該怎麼辦？」她問。

Brothers and sisters 兄弟姐妹

Organised waste-pickers are better off on all three counts. A survey of 140 waste-picking associations in Brazil found that after serious disruption in the first weeks and months of the pandemic, three-quarters were back in operation by May. Almost all of them were using ppe, almost 80% had sent vulnerable members into isolation and 45% were quarantining scrap before sorting it. In Belo Horizonte, in south-eastern Brazil, a waste-pickers’ co-operative successfully lobbied the mayor’s office for food baskets and hygiene kits to see them through the pandemic.

有組織的資源回收業在這三方面都比較好。調查巴西140個資源回收協會後發現，協會在疫情最初幾周和幾個月受重創，5月時四分之三已恢復營運。幾乎所有人都有個人防護設備，近80％協會將脆弱的成員送到隔離所，45％的協會在分類前隔離廢棄物。在巴西東南部的貝洛奧里藏特，一個拾荒合作社成功遊說市長辦公室提供食物籃和衛生用品包，以防疫情蔓延。

The Belo Horizonte association had learned to fight for its members well before the pandemic. It has been almost 20 years since a group of single mothers in the city started collecting plastic bottles. The co-operative has since won a contract with the local authorities, which pays 265 reais ($52) for each tonne of material they sort. Similar stories can be told all round the continent. Waste-workers in Latin American cities like Buenos Aires, Bogotá and São Paulo often operate in co-operatives. The fact that Latin America’s litter-pickers are better organised and better treated is not just a by-product of increased regional prosperity. It is also the result of pressure brought by the waste-pickers themselves and a strong social-justice movement supported by the Roman Catholic church.

貝洛奧里藏特協會自城市一群單身母親開始收集保特瓶已成立20年，早在疫情前就學會為會員而戰。此後更贏得與地方當局的合約，每噸物料支付265雷亞爾（52美元）。在整個拉美大陸都上演著類似的故事。布宜諾市、波哥大和聖保羅等拉丁美洲城市，拾荒者經常經營著合作社。拉丁美洲的垃圾收集者組織得更好，得到更好的待遇，這不僅是地區繁榮的副產品。這也是拾荒者本身施壓以及羅馬天主教會支持的強大的社會正義運動的結果

São Paulo has it sorted 聖保羅有所分類

This has seen waste-pickers achieve a formal recognition they lack in many cities in Africa. Brazil has been gathering data on the sector for almost 20 years, from the time when waste-picking became an occupation listed in the national registry. Argentina legalised waste-picking in 2002 and has since created a government agency dedicated to the sector: it has a multimillion-dollar budget. Working together, waste-pickers can lobby for contracts or invest in sheds where they sort the day’s harvest and store it until traders offer a good price. The many local names for collectors reflect a sometimes sophisticated division of labour. Cirujas, cartoneros, recicladores and chatarreros may each differ in responsibility and status city by city. By no means all of those who work on the dumps are in associations. But the successes of those who are often help those who are not, too.

拾荒業已獲得正式認可，這是非洲許多城市所缺乏的。巴西從資源回收業列入國家登記冊的職業起，已蒐集數據近20年。阿根廷於2002年將資源回收業合法化，成立專門負責的政府機構：預算有數百萬美元。拾荒者團結起來，可遊說爭取合約，或投資買棚子，在裡面對數天的收穫進行分類，並儲放到交易商開出好價錢。當地對回收業有許多的稱呼，反映有時複雜的勞動分工。Cirujas，cartoneros，reciladores和chatarreros在不同城市的責任和地位可能不同。不是所有在垃圾場工作的人都是協會成員，但那些成功者也會幫助還沒成功的人。

None of this has been easy, says Martha Chen, a Harvard lecturer who advises Wiego, a non-profit focused on women in informal work. “Someone from the public or the government doesn’t wake up one morning and think: ‘Let’s think about the waste-pickers’,” she says. “These gains come from years and years of struggle.”

沒有一件事是不勞而獲，哈佛大學的講師辰（Martha Chen）說，她為Wiego提供諮詢，該非營利組織聚焦於無正職工作的女性。不會有個公眾或政府機關的某人早上醒來就想：「讓我們考慮一下拾荒者吧。」她說，「這些成果來自多年的奮鬥。」

Other regions aren’t going to integrate informal workers into their waste-management systems overnight. But there is one way in which covid-19 might help them do their work and do it safely. In the midst of a public-health emergency, city folk across the globe have begun to appreciate those who put themselves at risk to keep the streets clean. India, with its entrenched caste system, has treated its waste-workers particularly badly in the past. But this year households in Pune have been handing out food packages and cash bonuses to the people who collect their rubbish. It is the same story on the streets of London, where children have adorned their windows with notes of thanks. Rainbows, hearts and smiley faces are dedicated to doctors, postal workers and binmen. 

其他地區不會在一夜之間，將非正式勞工納入他們的廢棄物管理體系。但總有一個方法可以幫助他們在新冠疫情下工作並保持安全。在公共衛生緊急事件爆發之際，全球城市居民開始感激置身險境維持街道清潔的人。印度擁有根深蒂固的種姓制度，過去對待處理廢棄物的勞工極為糟糕。但是今年浦那的家庭向收集垃圾的人們分發食物包和現金獎勵。倫敦街頭也發生同樣的事，孩子們在窗戶上裝飾著感謝的字條，將彩虹、愛心和笑臉獻給醫生，郵差和清潔工。 ■