Trash pickers or scrap collectors have played a role in urban waste management systems since the nineteenth century. It's an occupation practiced worldwide that helps protect the environment and provides income for poor families. Although recyclers remain at the bottom rung of the global economic ladder and face harassment from authorities, they are increasingly organized and have won important victories. Colombia's waste pickers were among the first to organize, and they recently invited their counterparts from around the world to discuss shared problems. From a recyclers' center in Bogotá, Teo Ballvé reports.