Scavenging through death to find life: A photo essay on a community working and residing in a dumpsite where medical waste is being dumped

• Main Author: Pelaez, Marie Danielle G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2537
• Institution: De La Salle University

Despite laws that declare proper segregation of medical waste, most hospitals in Cagayan de Oro City still dump hazardous material in the city dumpsite where a large population of scavengers reside and work. This thesis captured the dire conditions the scrounges are exposed to through the narration of their stories by portraits taken during the proponent five-week immersion in their community. Some of them have been pricked by stray bloodstained syringes and have come into contact with anatomical waste. Apart from those hazards, the life they lead is a menace in itself as they continue to sift through mounds of garbage even at night, increasing the likelihood of accidents occurring. The key feature of the thesis identifies that government involvement and initiative is needed to implement laws. Hospitals are complacent, as the city itself has remained passive on the issue.