Nohra Padilla is a Colombian environmentalist. She grew up in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. She has assumed a leading position in the Association of Recyclers of Bogotá, and of the National Association of Recyclers in Colombia, which organizes about 12,000 members. She was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

in 2013 for her contribution to

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...

and recycling in Colombia.

Background

Padilla grew up in a relatively poor family, and while a schoolgirl, from the age of 7, she helped her family with collecting recycles at the Bogotá municipal dump site. After finishing secondary school, she could not afford further education, and pursued with

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

for a living. Along with other "informal" (unpaid) recyclers, she co-founded the recycling association ''Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá'' (ARB) in 1990, aiming to improve conditions for the

waste picker A waste picker also known as waste collector or garbage collector is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominantly ...

s, eventually assuming the position of executive director of the association. The National Association of Recyclers in Colombia was founded in 1993. As of 2016, the Association of Recyclers of Bogotá (ARB) represented 3,000 informal recyclers in Bogotá, while the National Association of Recyclers in Colombia (ANR) had 12,000 members. Originally the waste-pickers' sole income has been from resale of wasted items, but this changed in Bogota in 2013, when a public payment system was introduced, also including

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

, medical aid and

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

s. Padilla has eventually attended the university for studying

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. She was awarded the Goldman Environment Prize in 2013.

References

Date of birth unknown Living people People from Bogotá Colombian environmentalists Colombian women environmentalists Year of birth missing (living people) Goldman Environmental Prize awardees {{environmentalist-stub