Who owns our trash—and why does it matter? – National Geographic

State Senator Craig Miner tours the Strategic Materials recycling plant in South Windsor, CT, April 4, 2017 (by CT Senate Republicans CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

Who owns our trash? It’s a heated question being asked by waste pickers around the world who are uniting to fight for their survival. What we throw away, they insist, should be available to all.

Globally, up to 56 million people collect and resell the metal, glass, cardboard, and plastic that the rest of us toss…