Trash pickers in Brazil worry about end of dump
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In this May 12, 2014 photo, Regina Celia, 21, carries a bag of recyclable trash on her back as she works at the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Trash pickers say they dont know how they will sustain their current way of life once the dump closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (AP2014)
In this Sept. 15, 2014 photo, members of the Viana family pose for a photo at the Estrutual landfill where they work searching for recyclable materials to sell in Brasilia, Brazil. From left, are Jose Viana, 28, Valter Viana, 58, Divina Viana, 27, Geralda Leonardo, 29, and Welington Leonardo, 16. Those concerned about landfill's eventual closure is the Valter family, who left their small family farm in the state of Goias 25 years ago to work at the dump where Valter says he can earn up to $850 a month, well above Brazil's $295 minimum salary. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, Divan Rosa carries a bag loaded with recyclable trash as he works inside the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Known in Portuguese as catadores, the nearly 3,000 people who make their livelihood at the landfill worry about how theyll survive once the open-air landfill closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, trash picker Atacilio Fernandes wears a headlamp to continue past sundown searching for recyclable materials to sell at the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Known in Portuguese as Ïcatadores,Ó the nearly 3,000 people who make their livelihood at the landfill worry about how theyÌll survive once the open-air landfill closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, a truck leaves the Estrutural landfill loaded with materials like recyclable plastic, metal and paper in Brasilia, Brazil. Nearly 3,000 trash pickers at the landfill sell recyclable plastic, metal and paper to middlemen. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Sept. 15, 2014 photo, members of the Viana family, who earn a living recycling trash, pose for a photo in front their home before walking to the Estrutual landfill at sunrise in Brasilia, Brazil. From left are Geralda Leonardo, 29, Divina Viana, 27, Maria Leonardo, 57, Isabele Vitoria, 3, Camila Vitoria, 6, Jose Viana, 28, Valter Viana, 58, and Welington Leonardo, 16. Cidade Estrutural is a neighborhood of about 40,000 people located next to the landfill where most of the trash pickers live. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, Mailson Maciel, 25, known as "Neymar," wears the Brazil national soccer jersey as he searches for sellable trash at the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Known in Portuguese as catadores, the nearly 3,000 people who make their livelihood at the landfill worry about how theyll survive once the open-air landfill closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (AP2014)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, a vulture flies over the Estrutual landfill where a man searches for recyclable materials near downtown in Brasilia, Brazil. Located just west of Brazils ultramodern Planalto Presidential Palace, the dump is set to shut down on a still-unannounced date. The closure postponed because a replacement landfill is not ready. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (AP2014)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, Marileide Ribeiro dos Santos covers her face to protect her from the dirt and fumes as she works at the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Known in Portuguese as catadores, the nearly 3,000 people who make their livelihood at the landfill worry about how theyll survive once the open-air landfill closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Sept. 09, 2014 photo, trash picker Valter Viana, 58, right, his wife Maria Leonardo, 57, center, spend time with their granddaughter Isabele Vitoria, 3, at their home in Brasilia, Brazil. Viana holds two sculptures which he uses as decorations after finding them at the Estrutual landfill. Maria quit working at the dump a few years ago because of a bad knee and now cares for the couples three granddaughters in the familys three-story concrete house. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Sept. 09, 2014 photo, recyclable trash collectors Valter Viana, 58, left, and his daughter Divina Viana, 27, talk inside their home before walking to the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. The Viana family left their small family farm in the state of Goias 25 years ago to work at the dump where Valter says he can earn up to $850 a month, well above Brazil's $295 minimum salary. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Aug. 27, 2014 photo, workers gather around a truck dumping trash at the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. The city government announced it would shut down the landfill and replace it with a new one in the district of Samambaia, located farther away from the presidential palace. It will use modern waste separation techniques that will require less human trash pickers. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Sept. 15, 201 photo, the Viana family walks to the Estrutual landfill as the sun rises in Brasilia, Brazil. Known in Portuguese as catadores, the nearly 3,000 people who make their livelihood at the landfill worry about how theyll survive once the open-air landfill closes. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this Aug. 27, 2014 photo, trash collector Valter Viana, 58, searches for recyclable material inside the Estrutual landfill in Brasilia, Brazil. Me and my wife raised our children and built our house thanks to the money we made as trash pickers," Valter Viana said recently after a day at the dump. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
In this May 12, 2014 photo, smoke billows from burning trash inside the Estrutual landfill as people search for recyclable materials to sell in Brasilia, Brazil. Since it opened in the 1960s, the landfill has accumulated some 30 million tons of trash, making it the largest in Latin America, according to the University of Brasilia and Brazil's National Waste Pickers Movement. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)