Clasificadores: “Living Off the Trash” and Raising Hogs at the Urban Margin

Urban Farm DB summary

A case study of clasificadores (urban waste sorters) in Montevideo, Uruguay, focusing on the subset known as clasificadores criadores de cerdos (CCdCs) who raise hogs alongside recycling. CCdCs do not fit the standard urban agriculture model since they do not garden but instead feed collected organic refuse to hogs. Raising hogs in the irregular settlements where CCdCs live is illegal, and very little of the hog meat they produce is consumed by the CCdCs themselves; out-of-town hog farmers transport their "bootleg," trash-fed hogs to legitimate markets to close the legal loop for what remains a clandestine production system. Although clasificadores have recently organized cooperatives and a labor union, the hog-raising activity itself remains illegal and dependent on this informal, off-book market channel.