Waste in Catia La Mar, Venezuela
This photo was taken in Catia la Mar, Vargas, Venezuela. It is a medium-sized city where many live in unplanned urban settlements, with difficult accessibility for vehicles and even pedestrians have to negotiate steep stairscases to reach their houses. Still services such as solid waste collection are needed.
Why at this moment?
The photo was taken whilst supervising the collection route of the municipal waste collection service. It shows the moment when the community is waiting for the collection vehicle to arrive. The schedule and frequency of the route has been announced to the households previously. A number of the citizens have brought their waste down many flights of stairs, other have already left their waste (bags) earlier during the day on their way to work or school. The collection truck comes on fixed times during the week and has been adapted to suite the steep slopes, narrow road conditions and slippery surface during the rainy seasons.
The household waste is set-out in a mix of recipientes, buckets, black garbage bags, and plastic bags from the supermarket.
