Recovering waste, recovering voices: recycling and empowerment in Latin America and Scotland
Recycling, waste, and plastics have become central topics in the global conversation on sustainability. However, aligning plastic recycling and waste management with the needs of both people and the planet requires more than ecological and economic analysis—it also demands attention to their social dynamics.
Dr Patrick O’Hare, a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology, explores the intersection of recycling economies and waste pickers in Latin America. His research focuses on the role of individuals within the broader issues of labour, waste, and circular economies.
Global Impact: The UN Plastic Pollution Treaty
Dr O’Hare’s research is based primarily in Uruguay, where waste-picking—gathering recyclable materials from refuse and selling them to industry—forms the livelihood for a group of people known as clasificadores. Through his work with this community, Dr O’Hare investigates the connections between social and cooperative economics, the plastics industry, and various business types, including rural plastic recycling.
Living and working with waste-pickers, Dr O’Hare discovered that the community shares a deep-rooted connection to their work. Waste-picking often provides a higher income than other available jobs, and contrary to conventional views, the community considers their work dignified.
Empowering Waste-Pickers Through Collaboration
Dr O’Hare’s close relationship with the clasificadores led him to become a civil society advisor for environmental NGOs during the development of Uruguay’s national waste action plan. His role has expanded, and he now advises the UN Plastic Pollution Treaty—an international legally binding agreement currently being negotiated to address plastic pollution.
As a member of the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty (SCEPT), Dr O’Hare helps link local plastic production and waste-picking contexts with broader treaty processes. He writes policy briefs and co-chairs working groups. His work also includes advising waste-pickers to ensure they are empowered rather than disadvantaged by the treaty process. This is particularly important as waste management services become more professionalized, which could restrict clasificadores access to waste.
By incorporating social science into his research, Dr O’Hare ensures that SCEPT’s findings on extended producer responsibility, chemical recycling, and just transition fully consider the needs and perspectives of local communities.
Uplifting Voices Through Bookbinding: cartonera
On a more individual level, Dr O’Hare connects recycling to vulnerable groups through the Cartonera Publishing Research Project, which focuses on cardboard bookmaking inspired by the Argentinian cartonera movement. During Argentina’s 2001 financial crisis, cartonera books—made from recycled cardboard—became a widespread craft as many people turned to selling recycled materials for their livelihood.
The cartonera movement prioritises affordable access to literature and encourages the dissemination of bookmaking skills to empower individuals to launch their own publishing ventures using accessible materials.
Dr O’Hare has conducted fieldwork with cartonera publishers in Mexico and translated his expertise into workshops for communities across Scotland. He has introduced the practice to schoolchildren in Fife through the First Chances Fife programme and to individuals recovering from addiction in Glasgow, who used the technique to publish scripts from their drama therapy performances.
Much like his work with SCEPT, Dr O’Hare’s cartonera project centres on recycling as a tool to uplift the voices of vulnerable groups. On both a local and global scale, his efforts are shedding light on the underrepresented social aspects of recycling and waste management, emphasising the importance of these often-overlooked perspectives in the pursuit of sustainability.