*Each Monday, Prophet’s Chief Curator and Provocateur, Andy Stefanovich, or a member of our innovation team* shares a Monday on-ramp with Prophet employees across the globe. We’ll begin sharing them here, and encourage you to join the conversation by answering questions and providing your own comments below. Happy Monday!

Filmed over nearly three years, the 2010 documentary Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

There he photographs an eclectic band of “Catadores,” self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initially wanted to “paint” the Catadores with garbage, but his collaboration with these characters inspired a grander vision for his own work, and for the Catadores themselves. The catadores have a purpose - they do not see themselves as trash pickers, but as recyclers with a job to make Rio a cleaner and better place to live.

Necessity and ingenuity led this socially excluded community to supersede the paradigms associated with garbage and seize the opportunity for an honest and dignified means for survival. 3,000 Catadores remove 200 tons of recyclable materials each day. And, although their work continues to be largely unrecognized it is of tremendous social and environmental value, as the city of Rio does not officially recycle.

Since the filming, sense of purpose led the self-organized Catadores to create a decentralized system of recycling collection in neighboring municipalities; a recycling center, and received professional recognition for the “catador,” enabling them to be contracted for their services. They now have a 24/7 medical clinic, a daycare center and skills training center.

*This week’s on-ramp was brought to you by Christian Markow in our Richmond office