The Beetham landfill situated on the outskirts of Port-of-Spain is attracting a new generation of scavengers-students who sell discarded scrap metals to buy designer brands. The designer brands, namely sneakers, watches, cologne and jerseys, when worn in schools give the teenagers rank and respect from their peers. At least two teenagers inducted into the salvage business at the La Basse this summer have raked in big bucks. When school reopens, brothers Akeem and Akiel Raguette will be "blinging out" in style at their schools in their fashionable "old school" and Jordan footwear.
Akeem, 16, is a Form Two student of Russell Latapy Secondary School while Akiel, 14, a Form One student, attends Morvant Laventille Secondary. The teenagers have joined a long list of La Basse recyclers who search through piles of waste, fend off hungry vulture and inhale thick plumes of smoke to get to the "riches" in the garbage. The youngsters' father Mervyn Pompey, a CEPEP foreman, said he had no qualms about his sons rummaging through mounds of smelly garbage for pieces of discarded scrap metals which are sold for thousands of dollars.Pompey admitted that his sons are not the only students involved in salvaging to buy brand name items.Some school dropouts are also part of the ring.
Pompey said with his meagre salary he could only afford the basic necessities for his children: food, shelter and books. Pompey believes that if he discourages his sons from the dump they would be tempted to source money elsewhere-at fate which he is trying to avoid.
Earning rank and respect
So far, Pompey's sons have already purchased top-of-the-line sneakers for the new school term. "They believe in having brands which I cannot afford. When they wear this it gives them rank and respect in school. I cannot buy brand name sneakers such as old school, Nike and Jordan which they go after. They have been working to buy what they want." For a student to wear a different sneaker everyday in school, Pompey said, was one way of earning rank and respect from their peers. Searching high and low in the pouring rain for his sons last Wednesday, Pompey could not find them in the dump. "Them boys must be gone to sell what they salvage," he muttered. Insisting that his children are not victims of child labour, Pompey said his boys but did it on their own free will.
"It's hard work but it have plenty money in it. I used to do this when I was much younger. I know what is hard life and being deprived of many things as a child. These youths nowadays have things too easy. They life too sweet." Pompey said many of the recyclers who live in Beetham Gardens were of the view that salvaging was the only way out. However, Pompey disagreed, stating that there are other ways to earn a dollar than robbing or killing someone. He appealed to young men in the community to register for Government's training programmes, where they are offered a stipend to become skilled and certified. "I feel the Government should step in and do something with the dump...make it a recycling plant thereby creating permanent jobs."
Scrap metal a lucrative business
On a good day, Pompey said his sons would each take home $600 plus, working from sun up to sundown. Admitting that sourcing scrap metals was a lucrative business, Pompey said his boys have collected a tidy sum selling what they have scavenged. "Is a nice change when you look at it." Metals such as copper nets as much as $12 a pound, while aluminium and stainless steel sell at $5 per pound.
Brass is priced at $10, with steel, the most highly sought iron goes for $18 a pound. Pompey said scavengers try to eliminate the middle man by selling the metals to the highest bidders located in Curepe, Chaguanas and Arima. It is then shipped to Japan, China and USA in freight containers to be melted and reused. In June 2004, the International Labour Organisation together with the Young Men's Christian Association embarked on a project to eradicate child labour at the Beetham and the Forres Park, Claxton Bay landfill sites.