The socioeconomic conditions of recyclers: Census data in Cali, Colombia

This data article describes two data sets about the socioeconomic conditions of recyclers in Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, South America. Data collected were aimed at understanding the social and economic conditions of this population in order to provide information for crafting policy alternatives for poverty alleviation. Information was collected in two waves in 2013 and in 2015. The first data collection (2013) was focused on a subgroup of recyclers and the second data collection (2015) was a census. In total, more than 3000 direct surveys to recyclers were conducted at individual and family level. In both data collection rounds, information about socioeconomic factors, health, working conditions, access to welfare programs and family composition was gathered. Both data rounds were financed by the local government as an input to design policy interventions to improve the recyclers’ quality of life in the city. The data of this manuscript is associated with the publication (Estrada et al., 2017).