Isaura Matola (pictured above), a widow and mother of four, wakes up every day at 5 a.m., before sunrise, to begin collecting recyclable waste at the Hulene landfill on the outskirts of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital.

After losing her job as a domestic worker in 2023, Matola faced unsuccessful attempts to secure other employment. Waste sorting at the landfill became her only viable option.

“With what I earn here, even though it is not much, I manage the basics to live. It’s different from doing nothing,” she says, while separating plastic, paper, and metal from large piles of rubbish. “At least my children are able to go to school.”

With her income, the 47-year-old Mozambican woman keeps all four children in school—one studying business management at university—and has managed to renovate her type-two house in the Maxaquene neighbourhood, several kilometres from the dumpsite.

“I hope God gives me the strength to keep working until my children graduate, because without me, there is no one else to support them,” Matola says. “That is why what many people see as rubbish is gold to us, because it puts bread on the table.”

Matola is one of more than 100 women in Real Reciclagem, a cooperative founded in 2022 to help women recover from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cooperative, officially registered in 2023, also provides a support network for widows, single mothers, and women who are survivors of violence.

The Mozambican Women Supporting Their Families Through Waste Sorting: 520 Tons Collected, 186 Children in School

Real Reciclagem reached a significant milestone in December 2024, having collected more than 520 tonnes of recyclable materials from dumpsites, streets, and avenues since its creation. This has helped reduce waste that would otherwise clog roads, drainage channels, and informal settlements around the city.

Women in the cooperative earn between $100 and $150 monthly—modest amounts that keep 186 children in school and ensure minimally dignified lives, explained Yolanda Jorge, 39, the cooperative’s founder.

Read the full article about Mozambican women building livelihoods through recycling by Samuel Comé at Shareable.