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MAPUTO. – Inside the Hulene dump, on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital, at least 500 people scavenge through garbage every day to survive, and as preparations are underway to close the space where 16 people were buried in 2018, fear hangs over the heads of those who depend on garbage to earn a living.

What should be a reason for natural joy – the end of an open-air dump – generates anguish: “The removal of the dump, without thinking about these people [waste pickers], can generate chaos,” Justino Cuna, a 36-year-old waste picker who is trying to create an association to defend the rights of waste pickers in the city of Maputo, warns Lusa.

Most of the collectors who scavenge the 25 hectares of the largest garbage dump in Mozambique are women who live on the poverty line, from different provinces, although most are from the neighborhood of Hulene.

Although official data indicate that there are at least 500 waste pickers at the Hulene dump, Justino Cuna, who has worked there for more than 10 years, says the number is double that.

Every day, it is estimated that more than 1 200 tonnes of solid waste are deposited in the Hulene dump, located along one of Maputo’s main arteries, the avenue Julius Nyerere, a Tanzanian liberation leader. – africanews.com