Energy News
TECH SPACE
Colombian influencer puts the pizzazz into recycling
Colombian influencer puts the pizzazz into recycling
By Sarah KRAKOVITCH
Bogota (AFP) Mar 18, 2025

Colombian influencer Sara Samaniego braids her long straight hair, checks her make-up in a mirror, places her phone in the center of a ring light and flashes a big smile for the camera.

"Hola mis recicla-amores! (Hello my recycling loves)," the 32-year-old, who is on a mission to teach Colombians how to sort their waste, says to greet her half-a-million Instagram followers.

Samaniego, who wears blue overalls and a baseball cap on backwards as part of her "Marce, la recicladora" (Marce, the recycler) social media alter ego, has also become an unofficial spokeswoman for the 74,000 people who rummage through the garbage of Latin America's fourth-biggest economy every day.

Colombian cities have no public recycling systems.

Instead, they rely on informal waste pickers to go through bins and garbage left out for collection to salvage cardboard, glass, plastic and other reusable materials.

Across the world, between 20 and 34 million people play a crucial role in environmental protection by collecting and sorting waste recyclables -- dirty, dangerous work for which most are paid a pittance.

- Making ends meet -

Throughout the developing world, waste pickers can be seen pulling carts laden high with bric-a-brac through dense traffic.

Samaniego tries to boost their visibility by profiling waste pickers on her YouTube and Instagram accounts.

She "encourages people to understand the work of recyclers from the inside," Zoraya Avendano, the manager of a warehouse where the recyclers sell their wares for a few pesos, told AFP.

Bogota, a city of eight million people, produces 9,000 tons of waste each day, according to a 2023 Greenpeace report, of which 17 percent is recycled -- the same proportion as New York, according to the GrowNYC recycling group.

Recycler Mary Luz Torres, 50, spends two hours travelling by bus from her home in the working-class south of Bogota to the wealthier north, where she plies her trade.

A fluorescent vest is her only form of protection from the cars and trucks zooming past, as she lugs a cart spray-painted with her name through the street.

"You have to go out and find a way to make ends meet," she said.

Pedro Talero, 55, spends his days collecting trash, which he sorts by night under a bridge.

On a good day he earns around $20, double the minimum wage.

"Some people look down on us," he said, but added that growing environmental awareness is leading to greater recognition of "our services to the planet."

- Growing recognition -

Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro last year rewarded the work of waste pickers by giving them a monopoly on recycling for 15 years.

"If traditional informal recyclers are compensated, we lift many people out of poverty. We lift many children out of child labor. We lift many women out of indignity," Petro said, crediting them with "improving the balance between humankind and nature."

Samaniego's contribution has been an attempt to glamorize the trade, with how-to posts set to tracks by Colombian stars such as Shakira and Karol G.

Born in Bogota, she developed a passion for nature on childhood holidays in the countryside.

Making a documentary about recycling while studying communications put her on the path to environmental influencer.

When she launched her YouTube channel six years ago, she said, there were "a lot of videos about music, dance, cooking, sports but the environment was rarely discussed."

Samaniego's winning formula is to inject levity into a subject characterized by earnestness.

The response has been thousands of questions and comments on her posts each day, and growing renown.

She gets stopped on the street for selfies, was recently a special guest on a TV reality show and is regularly invited to give talks at schools and businesses.

She owes much of her knowledge to informal recyclers, whom she calls her teachers.

To repay them, she fundraises on social media to buy them equipment, such as safety gloves and face masks, or to send them on a well-deserved holiday to the sea.

"I am fulfilling my goal of being an agent of change in the country," she says.

str-cb/dw/pjm

GOOGLE

Related Links
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
TECH SPACE
Shein says US tariff hit won't stop fast-fashion flood
Paris (AFP) Mar 15, 2025
Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will not eject fast-fashion juggernaut Shein from the US market, its executive chairman Donald Tang has told AFP. The head of the online platform, which has come in for scrutiny over its environmental footprint and allegations of human rights violations, also insisted that the company does not use forced labour. - 'Customers not affected' - "We're not focusing on customs policy," Tang said about the new US import levies, speaking during a visit to ... read more

TECH SPACE
UK energy minister in Beijing seeks to press China on emissions

'More and faster': UN calls to shrink buildings' carbon footprint

Peruvian farmer demands 'climate justice' from German energy giant

Sweden risks missing carbon neutrality goals: OECD

TECH SPACE
Chinese battery behemoth CATL posts jump in annual profit

The quest for room-temperature superconductors

Top locations for ocean energy production worldwide revealed

CATALYST Unveils INSIGHTS Vegetation Management to Strengthen Utility Grid Reliability

TECH SPACE
Engineers' new design of offshore energy system clears key hurdle

Student refines 100-year-old math problem, expanding wind energy possibilities

Berlin says offshore Chinese wind farm may pose security risk

Green energy projects adding to Sami people's climate woes: Amnesty

TECH SPACE
Identifying Key Organic-Inorganic Interaction Sites for Enhanced Emission in Hybrid Perovskites via Pressure Engineering

Groundbreaking Discovery Links Small Polaron Effect to Enhanced Spin Lifetime in 2D Lead Halide Perovskites

Cheap and environmentally friendly - the next generation LEDs may soon be here

Making solar projects cheaper and faster with portable factories

TECH SPACE
Japan begins its first dismantling of a commercial nuclear reactor

Highly radioactive nuclear waste - how to keep it from oblivion

UN atomic chief visits uranium-mining Niger

Google, Amazon, Meta join back tripling of global nuclear power by 2050

TECH SPACE
Eco friendly low-cost energy storage system from pine biomass

Why Expanding the Search for Climate-Friendly Microalgae is Essential

Solar-powered reactor extracts CO2 from air to produce sustainable fuel

Zero Emissions Process for Truly Biodegradable Plastics Developed

TECH SPACE
Trump says Iran 'will be held responsible' for Huthi attacks

U.S. officials act to block illicit Iranian oil trade with China

BP says gas leak stopped off coast of Senegal, Mauritania

China urges 'dialogue' after Yemen rebels say attacked US carrier

TECH SPACE
Doubts over climate funding as donors squeeze aid

Spain near end of four-year drought: weather agency

US 'vital' for forecasting global weather extremes: UN

UK court cuts longest jail terms on activists, rejects 10 appeals

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.