Waste LandCall Number: N8237.8.R44 W37 2011
ISBN: 9781422915134
Brooklyn based artist Vik Muniz grew up poor in Brazil. This film follows him as he returns to Rio de Janeiro, specifically to Jardim Gramacho, or "Garbage Garden." The world's largest landfill, it receives 7,000 tons daily, an astonishing 70% of all Rio's garbage. "We are not pickers of garbage; we are pickers of recyclable materials," says Tiao, a catadore, or trash picker who thinks of himself and his fellows as environmentalists. The pickers have a union, which has built a recycling center, medical clinic, day care and skills-training centers, and community lending library of discarded books for their members.