recycled

Two guys pushing a flat trailer appear several times a week to buy metal waste from the shop keepers.  We leave the plastic and cardboard waste in our front garden and wait for someone to come and take for resale.  Many people seem to make their living this way, so competition for good garbage is tough.  I have often seen people chasing these entrepreneurs down the street because they have "collected" something they shouldn't have.  

  I watched this woman tie our garbage in to her bundle one morning before heading down the steep slope to Varkala Beach. 

Shawn caught a woman from a restaurant on the cliff burning her garbage in his front garden earlier this week.  The fire spread and had to be extinguished (but only after clouds of smoke filled the cafe).

People here have the idea that it is environmentally friendly to burn garbage when possible- especially paper and cardboard.  Foreigners complain that they suffer chest problems related to inhaling smoke.