Organizing on the Streets: A Study of Reclaimers in ... - Inclusive Cities

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WIEGO <strong>Organizing</strong> Series
<strong>Organizing</strong> on the Streets: A Study of Reclaimers in the Streets of Cape Town1. IntroductionThis is a story of people working in the streets of Cape Town, reclaiming scrap metal and oldbottles from streets and pavements; people scrounging for paper and cardboard in the bins ofthe suburban middle classes and townships. It is a story of poverty and survival, but it is also astory of how large companies come to source paper, cardboard and other inputs via poor peoplecollecting waste on the streets. In addition, it is a story of how a large proportion of suburbanwaste comes to be recycled, as neo-liberal policies see local authorities cut essential services andoutsource waste collection to market forces.The people reclaiming waste in the street call their activity by various names – recycling,collecting, mining, minza (a term used by reclaimers meaning “trying to survive”), ukuzizamela (tryingfor yourself), grab-grab, and work. The most common term used is skarrelling, an Afrikaans slangword meaning “always on the look-out for something”, “scrounging around” or “struggling butdoing something about it”. However, seeing that this brand of Afrikaans is unique to Cape Town,this report uses the word “reclaimers”This report is divided into nine sections. Section Two provides background on reclaiming in CapeTown. Section Three presents an overview of the research methodology. Section Four providesinsight into the three areas where scoping research was conducted. Section Five presents findingsrelated to who the reclaimers are and how they see this work. Section Six focuses on what theyreclaim, how they see their work, how their work is organized and their earnings. Section Sevendetails how reclaimers were affected in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup held in June andJuly 2010. Section Eight looks at challenges and opportunities for organizing, and Section Ninepresents overall conclusions of the study.1
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