Cartoneros warn Buenos Aires City recycling overhaul could push them out

Groups representing cartoneros warn that the conditions being set by City Hall for renewing recycling system contracts could push them out and pave the way for private firms to take them over; Cooperatives say the proposed financial and asset requirements are challenging and could lead to their exclusion.

Organisations representing urban recyclers have warned that conditions being prepared by the Buenos Aires City Government to renew recycling contracts could push cooperatives and cartoneros out of the system and open the door to private companies. 

The current contract expires in September, with the cooperatives particularly objecting to proposed financial and asset requirements that they say they cannot meet, including requirements related to ownership of recycling centres and vehicle fleets.

The dispute centres on the future of a system that has formally incorporated cartoneros into public policy over the past two decades. Laws 992 and 1854 established collection routes and Green Centres for sorting materials. 

More than 6,500 families are now formally incorporated into the system, which recovers around 7,000 tonnes of material a month, according to a report by the cooperatives. 

“It’s quite a complex combination of factors. We are in a critical situation and on alert because of everything that is happening,” Jésica Espíndola, one of the cooperative leaders, told Tiempo Argentino this week. “What we are doing is providing a service to citizens.”

“We want to work and remain in the recycling system as we have done for the past 20 years,” said Espíndola, a cooperative leader. She said the groups were willing to adopt new technology and improve logistics, but rejected what they described as a disguised privatisation.

Behind the new scheme lies a broader struggle over who will manage the city’s dry waste and according to what model. City Hall says the service needs to be modernised, with better traceability and collection. The cooperatives argue that this can be achieved without abandoning the system’s social character, warning that they cannot compete on equal terms with companies possessing greater capital and financial resources. 

Recyclers also point to years of underinvestment, including the failure to fully rebuild the Barracas Green Centre after it was destroyed by fire in February 2024. Cooperatives demonstrated this week to demand the existing recycling system, with its social inclusion factor, be maintained.
 

Cartoneros invite Pope Leo XIV to meet workers during Argentina visit

The Unión de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (Union of Workers of the Popular Economy, UTEP) and organisations representing informal recyclers have invited Pope Leo XIV to meet cartoneros during his forthcoming visit to the country in November.​

In a letter sent to the Vatican, the organisations proposed that the pontiff visit a low-income neighbourhood, tour a recycling centre or attend an assembly with workers during his November 8-11 trip. They said the meetings would allow him to see the work carried out by cooperatives, recyclers and community organisations, while hearing about the economic and social difficulties facing the families involved.

– TIMES with agencies