COVID-19 and waste pickers

Precariousness of life and health in the face of fear of hunger or the risk of contagion

Abstract

This article addresses the experiences of women waste pickers in the face of the implications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in an association in the Distrito Federal (DF). The main objective was to understand the precarious life situation of women waste pickers inserted in a systemic and institutional inequality of capitalism. For that, an ethnography was carried out that combined observation and listening techniques (informal conversations and semi-structured interviews). Through this, it was possible to monitor the daily life of these women, from the onset of one of the greatest health crises in humanity until the period of return to work activities. The results revealed that the waste pickers are inserted in the logic of precariousness of life, and the conditions were aggravated with the arrival of the new coronavirus when the vulnerability related to the informal work bond, the unhealthy conditions and health risks inherent to the occupation and the difficulties increased. access to health and social assistance services. The context shows a complex deal related to the fear of unemployment, the difficulties and barriers to entering the labor market and maintaining one’s livelihood. Above all, it worsened more intensely in the face of the absence of policies and programs aimed at them, the State did little to reduce the impacts of the pandemic on their lives. Thus, the established health crisis reflected their fragility in the face of the recycling cycle. This fact demonstrates the urgent need for government actions to embrace this social group, both during the pandemic and post-pandemic of COVID-19, aiming to overcome social invisibility.