A Rio de Janeiro airport , the largest in South America , is reopened after three years . Drug - free zone , informal economy springs up around Jardim Gramacho . According to the city of Rio , the cooperative and city officials negotiated more than $ 11 million as severance to be split among those workers who could prove they had been working at the site for the last few years . Thousands of scavengers , called catadores , made their living off recycling trash there . The government is planning to retrain workers , improve slums , turn land into park .
A Rio de Janeiro airport , the largest in South America , is reopened after three years . Drug - free zone , informal economy springs up around Jardim Gramacho . Thousands of scavengers , called catadores , made their living off recycling trash there . The government is planning to retrain workers , improve slums , turn land into park .