Art of trash: feting South Africa’s overlooked waste pickers

Reclaimers pack a trolley full of waste after a graffiti artist has sprayed it as part of an initiative to make their graffiti art mobile and make reclaimers more visible and identifiable in Johannesburg. Photo: AFP

To many they are just filthy-looking jumbo bags bursting at the seams with recyclable waste wheeled along the streets of South Africa’s largest city.

But now graffiti artists are giving them a makeover, spray-painting them with bold and bright designs to encourage bystanders to look up and notice the unsung work of the impoverished workers who pull them.