One scene has become increasingly common amid Spain's economic crisis: Thousands of people, many of them immigrants, are searching trash dumpsters by night. Some scour the garbage for food, but many others are involved in a black-market trade for recycled materials.
The scavengers have slowly become a sad fixture in many barrios across Spain, like the well-dressed, middle-aged man on a Barcelona street corner on a recent night. He averts his eyes from onlookers as he reaches his arm down deep into a dumpster.
He's embarrassed, he says, that Spain's economy has left him searching through trash. He's afraid to give his name, but willing to tell his story: He's Pakistani, and came to Spain four years ago to work in construction — an industry that collapsed shortly after he arrived. Now, he's left scavenging.
"Here, take a look at this," he says, describing what he's found. "This is junk metal, but it's worth a bit of money."
Selling stuff like this, he says, is his only work now.
"Look, over here there's some food," he says, lifting a few unbroken eggs out of a crate from a separate dumpster for organic waste.
Scavenging For Cash
Although food can be useful, the man concentrates on looking for plastic cable or copper wire. He worked construction just long enough to make contacts with builders who, these days, are desperate for cheap materials.
"See this? This is expensive," he says, showing off a cable. "But this other stuff over here, not as much. It's cheaper."
Enlarge Richard van der AA/Demotix/Corbis
A man searches through trash bins in Girona, Spain. Across Spain, people are increasingly dumpster diving for scraps of food or metal.