Urban political ecologies of informal recyclers' health in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires' informal recyclers (cartoneros) confront multiple health hazards in their work. Based in a survey with (n=397) informal recyclers, this study establishes that these workers experience uneven health landscapes as evidenced through their health outcomes, the social determinants of their health, and their living and working environments. I argue that the analytical framework of urban political ecology can provide insights to the ways that the urban environments where carroneros live and work are socially-constructed phenomena, drawing on concepts of crisis, metabolism, and multi-scalar analyses. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.