Recycling aluminum in Brazil... Multi-billion dollar industry

Shirley Aparisida de Souza uses her feet to crush empty beverage cans collected from the streets of one of São Paulo's impoverished neighborhoods. It is her source of income and a vital contribution to environmental protection goals in Brazil.

Thanks to approximately one million collectors like her, the country, for the first time in 2022, recycled as much aluminum cans as it produced, according to data from "Recicla Latas," the association representing the sector.

Brazil leads the world in recycling beverage cans, surpassing the European Union, which recycles 73% of them, and the United States, which recycles 60%, according to their own databases.

The organization "Recicla Latas" says that recycling efforts in the country have prevented the emission of approximately 16.5 million tons of greenhouse gases in the past decade.

But for Aparisida de Souza, collecting cans is a matter of survival.

She gathers them from the streets, garbage containers, or waste dumps and sells them to collection centers that send the cans to recycling plants, earning about 20 reais, a little over 4 US dollars, per day.

The 38-year-old woman told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the amount "is enough to buy essentials, a can of rice and black beans, and sometimes meat."

Through this work, she can support her five daughters in a working-class neighborhood in one of Latin America's largest cities.

- "A Family Tradition" -

De Souza leaves home every morning at dawn to collect as many cans as possible. It takes about 70 black trash bags to gather one kilogram of aluminum, which sells for a little over one US dollar.

AFP adds that this is a "family tradition" that her mother started when she was fifteen.

She explains, "Aluminum sells for a higher price than other materials, like cardboard, and it's lighter to carry."

Meanwhile, Alini Souza da Silva, an activist from the association "Ankats," which represents recyclable material collectors, says there is "a lot of competition" in collecting cans, which can be recycled indefinitely.

The recycling rate of other materials in Brazil is much lower than that of beverage cans, at about 4% on average.

In 2022, around 430,000 tons of cans were recycled, according to Renato Pacca, director of "Recicla Latas," whose data the Brazilian government uses as a reference.

156 Cans Per Person -

Since 2010, when beverage manufacturers signed an agreement with Brazilian authorities, the aluminum recycling numbers have increased in a country where each inhabitant consumes around 156 cans per year, with a population of approximately 200 million.

It takes an average of "60 days" for a can bought from a supermarket to appear on the shelves again after recycling, according to Danilo Machado, an official at the company Latasa-Garimpeiro Urbano for recycling.

This sector adds about 1.25 billion dollars to the Brazilian economy every year. However, those who form the backbone of the sector live a life fraught with risks and little social protection.

On January 1, they were honored at the inauguration ceremony of left-wing leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with Souza da Silva among a group of activists chosen to present him with the presidential sash.