Recycling by men and women in Quito neighborhoods : findings and implications -- quantitative formative research report

The income generated by the common practice of selling household recyclables to scavengers may be used by women in the household to meet family needs. The scavengers going from house to house trying to purchase recyclable products are generally women, and most of the microenterprise personnel are also women. (Author abstract) Most of the neighborhoods participating in the program are in Southern Quito and are either lower or lower-middle class neighborhoods. A pilot recycling program was initiated in these neighborhoods by a municipal initiative that targeted areas of Quito unserved by municipal waste collection services. The initiative reflected the concerns of a municipal council member with a long tradition of environmental activism. The neighborhoods participating in the program represented a variety of social dynamics. Some of them are old established and cohesive neighborhoods with relative stable residents, many of whom are public sector employees. In some cases, these are neighborhoods where residents have come together to participate in previous neighborhood development efforts. Others are more recent neighborhoods bringing together immigrants from different parts of the country, both urban and rural, characterized by a looser social structure. M