Unrecognised informal solid waste recycling in an emerging African megacity: a study of Johannesburg, South Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
Habitat International, 2017
Informal waste recycling has become an important activity in the urban South Africa. In the city of Johannesburg for example, informal waste pickers have now become part of the waste management landscape and are involved in municipal waste collection, sorting and recycling of economically viable recyclable materials such as paper, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and ferrous metals. Using empirical data collected through the tradition of participatory research, the findings suggest that waste pickers play a vital role in municipal solid waste management and make a significant contribution to the city's economic growth as well as environmental wellness. Despite their contribution, the findings also suggest that, the institutional and policy framework in Johannesburg has continued to not positively integrate the informal sector into the formal systems of solid waste. It is therefore, suggested in the paper that for the city of Johannesburg to effectively and efficiently manage solid waste, it is important that the city managers look for avenues through which they can integrate the two systems of solid waste practices prevalent in the city. The perspective has been analysed within the broader sustainability discourse.
Urban Forum, 2011
High levels of unemployment are a permanent feature in the urban areas of many developing countries. South Africa is no exception in this regard. Poverty and hardship caused by unemployment force many participants in the labour market to venture into the urban informal economy in order to survive. The activities of the waste pickers fall within the urban informal economy. In spite of the fact that waste pickers are a common sight in the urban areas of Pretoria and other South African cities, remarkably little is known about them and scant attention is paid to them. The aim of the study was to establish a socioeconomic profile of the street waste pickers in Pretoria and to describe the social interaction and relationship dynamics between the waste pickers and their families, each other, the community and buy-back centres. This was done by conducting the first ever empirical study of the street waste pickers in Pretoria. The results revealed that the role of street waste pickers in the broader waste management system is an important public issue that requires urgent attention and appropriate policy responses from policy makers.
The work and lives of street waste pickers in Pretoria
High levels of unemployment are a permanent feature in the urban areas of many developing countries. South Africa is no exception in this regard. Poverty and hardship caused by unemployment force many participants in the labour market to venture into the urban informal economy in order to survive. The activities of the waste pickers fall within the urban informal economy. In spite of the fact that waste pickers are a common sight in the urban areas of Pretoria and other South African cities, remarkably little is known about them and scant attention is paid to them. The aim of the study was to establish a socio-economic profile of the street waste pickers in Pretoria and to describe the social interaction and relationship dynamics between the waste pickers and their families, each other, the community and buy-back centres. This was done by conducting the first ever empirical study of the street waste pickers in Pretoria. The results revealed that the role of street waste pickers in the broader waste management system is an important public issue that requires urgent attention and appropriate policy responses from policy makers.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2019
This paper discusses the impacts of solid waste on human health and environmental wellbeing in Johannesburg, South Africa. Using both secondary and primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with members of a local community of Windsor, municipal officials and other stakeholders involved in solid waste management (SWM) in Johannesburg, it finds that mismanagement of solid waste negatively affects the urban environment and human health, leading to reduced productivity and economic growth. Further, it is argued that ineffective SWM must be seen as a consequence both of institutionalised failure to implement and enforce urban policies and regulations and a parallel failure to recognise the importance of private agents and community participation in urban development and management. Developing an effective and sustainable SWM system in Johannesburg requires city authorities to devolve resources and authority to local level along with clear guidelines and strategies to strengthen local management processes.
Formalising informal solid waste recycling at the Pomona dumpsite in Harare, Zimbabwe
Natural Resources Forum, 2017
The role of informal recycling in poverty alleviation and solid waste management in cities in developing countries has been receiving increased attention. This study explores the integration of the informal recycling sector with the Harare City Council's solid waste management system, focusing on the Pomona dumpsite. The extent of this integration was compared with interventions proposed in InteRa, a new way of evaluating the integration of informal recyclers with the waste management systems of cities in developing countries. Our results suggest that the Harare City Council, which had the vision of transforming itself into a world-class city, failed to fully integrate the informal recycling sector. We suggest to policymakers that complete integration of the informal sector will not necessarily prevent cities from achieving such visions. Rather, addressing the neglected interventions may help in achieving their visions.
Urban Forum
Formal and informal institutions exist to regulate actors providing solid waste collection services in African cities, yet collection coverage remains low. The study examines the role of institutions in enabling and/or constraining actors' participation and collaboration in solid waste collection in Kampala City. A qualitative methodological approach is employed by conducting in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, and reviewing documents. A dilemma in waste regulation manifests. Whereas regulations favour formal actors, informal actors predominantly provide waste collection services in poor neighbourhoods. Stringent requirements for participation and discriminatory bylaws are exposed. The interplay between formal and informal actors is vibrant but not legally supported. Therefore, it is prudent for effective planning to accommodate the operations of formal and informal actors and their interface to ensure smart cities. This might encourage participation and enable actors' collaboration, consequently reducing uncollected waste volumes and illegal waste disposal sites in the informal settlements.
Johannesburg is threatening to sideline informal waste pickers. Why it’s a bad idea
The Conversation, 2021
The City of Johannesburg wants to introduce a R50 recycling levy so that residents would pay for the expansion of a pilot separation at source (S@S) project that pays private companies to collect recyclables. The pilot has been expensive, ineffective, dispossessed reclaimers, and worsened their incomes and working conditions. Reclaimers and residents are opposing the levy and calling on the City to adopt a recycling system that is developed with reclaimers and led by them. https://theconversation.com/johannesburg-is-threatening-to-sideline-informal-waste-pickers-why-its-a-bad-idea-159969
Waste pickers in the informal economy of the Global South: included or excluded?
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the role and practices of informal waste pickers and the implications for waste management policy in urban contexts of the Global South. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative case studies were used, including interviews, observations and document analyses. The authors compared informal waste management in two cities of the Global South: Accra (Ghana) and Porto Alegre (Brazil). Findings The analysis points out that informal waste pickers play a crucial role in the implementation of waste policies in both cities, despite differing economic, social and institutional contexts. The study of the waste management system also points to multiple connections between informal and formal parts of the economy. Although the informal waste pickers are integral to the waste management systems, their economically disadvantaged position excludes them from the formal labour market. Faced with these challenges, they develop creative soluti...
This article has been published on the ASPA's Good Governance Worldwide website: http://www.aspaonline.org/global/ This article has been extracted from a more extensive inter-disciplinary research paper on biological and social characteristics of improved waste management – specifically food waste management – in an under-serviced informal settlement (slum) in the Western Cape of South Africa. The paper was presented at the Winelands Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa in March 2014. The project approach to food waste management was considered in the context of upgrading infrastructure and services in informal settlements, a topic of increasing interest in South African housing policies. The case study is set within the context of Stellenbosch, a town with a landfill currently under serious capacity constraints. The Stellenbosch Municipality will therefore need to continue to explore options and steps necessary for addressing its landfill crisis, in order to achieve its goal of being the ‘greenest municipality’. The municipality could do this by aiming for the low-hanging fruit of separation of food waste at source, and the article illustrates how this can be done – particularly by engaging local residents in a dynamic way that gives them real traction in the formal-informal service delivery struggle.