Megacities: Sâo Paulo

SYNOPSIS

It's the second largest city on earth - and the most important city in Brazil. More than 10 million people live in Sao Paulo. But fitting people isn't a problem. The challenge is the city's trash. Every day, Sao Paulo generates 14,000 tons of garbage -- the weight of the leaning Tower of Pisa. Sao Paulo has embarked on a green revolution by harnessing hectares of trash to produce energy. Aluminum cans are the most recycled object on earth, and Brazil leads the way when it comes not only to recycling them, but the speed at which it's done. This episode follows one aluminum can from the time it is picked by one of the catadores - the trash-pickers of São Paulo who make their living from collecting recyclables - through pressing, melting, and re-melting, to the moment it is ready to become a new can. State of the art technology combined with typical Brazilian ingenuity contributes not only to a clean environment, but to help poor citizens earn their living.