Pepenadoras y educación ambiental: por una cartografía de la basura

this article addresses the complex reality of garbage scavengers in urban centers. the main objective is to reflect about the emerging elements of this phenomenon through a dialog between environmental education fundamentals and the concept of territory in geography, seeking an integrating approach to the subject, trying to bring together the economic, cultural and socio-environmental aspects of recycling garbage, based on experiences with that community, seeking to revive research and studies with this theme as their focus. garbage scavengers not only seek to resist processes of exclusion and domination, since in their day to day activities, they not only transform garbage into raw materials, taking into account the scarcity of natural resources, they also transform the society that generates the garbage. recycling sites are perceived as spatial components of a scavenging identity that, beyond the economic disadvantage of their agents, is subject to representations, using this space through tactics as a locus of resistance. it is fundamental to observe how a set of values is attached to their work, thereby constituting a specific culture. in conclusion, the article points out that the warehouse can become a space for possible political action by the scavengers and it is intimately related to the political dimension of environmental education.