Informal trash collectors may gain "green" jobs in the formal sector with the closure of the world's largest trash dump. Photo: basmati - authentic help (flickr)

Does your old lunch bag go in the garbage or the recycle bin? For hundreds of thousands of garbage scavengers worldwide who make a meager living by collecting, recycling and reselling trash, that decision is worth its weight in cash.

But at the end of this month, the world’s largest dump will close, leaving many scavengers without a livelihood.

The closure of Mexico City’s Bordo Poniente dump, which will divert nearly 12,600 tons of garbage into recycling and composting plants daily, reports the Associated Press, is a win for environmental groups. It’s also a win for the city’s mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, who announced the closure will take place December 31, the day before he steps down to focus on his campaign for the 2012 presidential race, the LA Times reports.

But trucking the garbage directly to sorting plants leaves out a key player in the waste management system—dump dwellers who for decades have sorted much of the trash and sold the recyclables for income, like freelance garbage collectors.

If the city agrees as promised to negotiate with the guild that the garbage scavengers have organized to voice their concerns, it could mean formal jobs for pepenadores, jobs that pay many times more than what they earn now reselling what they find. After all, living on the dump creates a level of trash expertise and relying on it for an income is quite an incentive to sort it efficiently. They’ve been greasing the wheels of the old system for years; it seems only fair they be part of the new one.

Nomadic herders tending to their flock. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

All Mongolian winters are bitterly cold, but for the most extreme, the Mongols have a special word: a "dzud," which loosely translates as "crisis."

The dzud that hit Mongolia this winter was the worst in recent memory. Snow fell and fell until it blocked doorways. Many were forced to exit their homes through holes in their roofs.

The toll of this bitterly cold weather, however, was far more than just roof damage. More than 8 million cows, sheep, goats, camels and other livestock died — a staggering loss in a country where three quarters of the population earn their living from herding.

One reason this year's dzud was so devastating was that the animals were already weak, explains Oidov Vaanchig, who works for Mercy Corps in Mongolia. Scarce food during the summer made it difficult for herders to feed their goats and sheep. So, when winter struck, their animals didn't have enough body fat to survive.

Grazing livestock never used to be this difficult. But today there are too many animals, says Oidov, and the land is overburdened. As goats roam, their sharp hooves tear the tender top crust of the soil, exposing the fertile layers below. On the windy steppe, the soil blows away and the grassland slowly turns to dessert. Stopping this kind of damage to the environment is the best way to prevent future dzuds, said Oidov.

If herders can increase their earnings from the animals they have, they won't need to raise more to make ends meet. So Mercy Corps puts on workshops that teach skills like pasture management, assessing agricultural risks and understanding household economics. The topics also include ways to prevent desertification, such as fencing in fields so that roaming animals can't overgraze, or planting trees and vegetable crops to prevent soil erosion.

Mercy Corps also helps herders pursue other livelihoods by teaching people how to sew, process wool, and make blocks for construction. The idea is not to sideline herding, which Mercy Corps recognizes as an important part of Mongolia's culture. Rather, the economic diversification reduces the impact on the land, and provides herders with a measure of protection against future dzuds and other challenges Mother Nature may throw their way.

"Only by investing in rural communities," says Oidov, "will we be able turn future disasters into a minimal and surmountable problem."