Argentina's cartoneros, like Marissa Aguilera, work long hours and earn small profits. Still, with the help of well-organized worker cooperatives, many manage to provide food for their family.
After the financial crisis in 2001, many Argentinians who lost their jobs turned to trash picking to earn a living. These are images from their daily work.
The cartoneros in Buenos Aires are assembling to find ways to gain legitimate recognition from their government.
Argentina's economic crisis in the early 2000s threw tens of thousands out of work. For many, working for themselves as a cartonero, someone who collects trash to sell to recycling centers, became the only option to put food on the table.
As featured on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria.
This film was produced in association with The Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR) and J. Malcolm Garcia, who authored the "The White Train" for the Fall 2007 issue.
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