podcast final

The Lab Notes episode discusses the situation in Jardim Gramacho, a small town in Brazil that became an unofficial waste dump. The landfill caused unsafe living conditions and environmental damage. Waste pickers, known as catadors, suffered from physical and mental health issues due to their work in the landfill. The closure of the landfill in 2012 left the catadors without jobs. The podcast highlights the need for support and offers volunteer options for those interested in helping. Hey y'all, welcome back to Lab Notes, where we cover hard-hitting real-life cases from all over the world, and dive into the science of the situation and how people are affected. We strive to help people by spreading awareness of these situations, and today we're going to be talking about what happened in Jardim Gramacho, a small town off the coast of Brazil. The situation in Jardim is very interesting. The town was turned into an unofficial waste site dump, and this has led to unsafe living conditions for citizens. Around 14 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro, in Biaxada, Fluminense region, used to be Rio's main landfill, the largest one in Latin America, receiving around 8,000 tons of waste daily until closed in 2012. People called catadors in the community needed waste to support themselves and family. They would forage for valuable metals and plastics to sell in Rio. As garbage and toxic waste built up and spread through nearby waterways of the Sarufu River and the Guanabara Bay, it severely affected the surrounding environment, exposing toxic chemicals to fish and fertile soil. The landfill was not only affecting the environment, but catadors developing depression and drug addiction from years in a landfill while having no access to consistent income. Today I will bring in a guest who experienced the effects of working and finding a living in the dump. Tell us a bit about yourself. Hi, my name is Bob, and I'm a waste picker. And what does that mean? How would you describe your day-to-day life? I wake up, and then I pick up trash and recyclables, and then I sell them. What's it like living off of these sellings? Do you think it's sustainable? I'm able to make about two dollars a day, and I can make a living off the things I sell. It's hard work, but it's the only thing I have. When I started, I didn't think I could do it every day, but once you do it for a while, it becomes a routine. Do you think working in the waste for so long has affected your health? Yes. My back is broken, and I think I got some diseases. Your back is broken? How? I spent hours shading my back to pick up trash, and eventually my back snapped. I think it's still broken. Is there anyone you could see about that? I don't have enough money to see a doctor because they closed down the site and haven't paid us yet. The money I saved up from working all these years isn't enough. Interesting. Do you know anything about the science behind how the waste is causing these effects? I don't really know science, but the waste is making chemicals that are seeping out and are toxic to all of us in the area. How do these chemicals affect you? Have you had trouble breathing? Any mental effects that you're aware of? Chemicals definitely give me constant headaches, but luckily I don't think I have any mental health impacts. But other waste pickers I know have developed depression, and I do know some people who got into alcoholism, so I haven't seen in a while. I'm not sure where they went. What was your job beforehand? I robbed stores. I read there was an uphold of criminal activity. Have you seen any of this? Does it affect you? I'm scared to get robbed because no one has enough money, and I don't want them to take the little that I have. That sounds like quite the hazardous lifestyle. Well, thank you for reaching out and helping us learn a bit more about this event. Thank you for having me. Along with the lives of many, just like our interview read, many other things were affected by the wasteland, including soil, plants, and potentially animals. Environmentally, the area was completely uninhabitable for a lot of life, and biodiversity became very slim. A big problem with the situation is it's affecting many people in poverty and causing them to resort to needs to cope. Environmentally, it is unjust because people are suffering due to the damage of the waste in more ways than one. People were getting paid less and even lost their jobs due to the waste, which caused these people in lower economic status to go into poverty. These people were forced to pick through trash and sell it for money. Waste pickers, also known as cathedrals, developed illness, depression, and drug addiction for spending so much time in a landfill. These cathedrals were not just adults. A waste picker leader who worked at the dump for 14 years, starting at the age of 11, and is today a director of Gramacho's First Recycling Cooperative, noted, it was so difficult living with the garbage. Rather, it was difficult not to become garbage. Most of these cathedrals were deserted as children, not being able to go to school or develop skills. In 2012, the Jardim Gramacho dump officially shut down and was replaced with a more modern waste treatment center. Waste pickers were not allowed into the new facility and left without jobs. The dump closure came as a result of Brazil's newly adopted national solid waste policy. The closure was celebrated by the local governments as a step towards sustainable development before the city's hosting of the FIFA Cup. After some time, people of state realized that cathedrals had no other sources of income. Cathedrals were offered supervised jobs to not leave thousands of people without ways to support themselves or family. Thank you for tuning in. If you want to support our website, go to www.labnos.com to subscribe to our newsletter. We're already preparing our fall letter, which should drop towards the end of November. To support the situation, you can go to gooverseas.com and read our volunteer options for Rio de Janeiro. Our support comes from Thomas O'Neill and the rest of the science faculty. Our research came from PBS and EJ Atlas. We also got information from the Wasteland movie covering the situation. I'm Anthony Amoratos. My co-host is Edmond Haddad, and our interviewee is Robert McDonald. Our theme music is by me, and the podcast was edited by me and directed by Edmond Haddad. This is Lab Nos. www.labnos.com