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THE ECONOMICAL IMPACT OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In most developing and emerging countries, collecting, sorting and recycling of waste provides income to thousands of people of the informal sector. They work in the streets, at dumpsites, landfills, transfer stations or at separation plants. The informal sector is an important actor in collecting, recycling and valorising recyclables and organic waste from households and businesses. However, legitimising the activities of the informal sector and integrating them into the formal solid waste system is being regarded as a challenging process that takes a long time and requires the full commitment of all stakeholders involved. As the informal sector is often regarded as little profitable, not organised and not trustworthy, only few cooperation models between the public, private and informal private sector have been initiated so far.

The informal sector in solid waste management plays an important role, especially with respect to recycling activities. Usually, studies deal with the social aspects of informal waste sector workers, but very few is known about the economical impact. In this respect, a lately completed study focusing on the economic effects of the informal waste sector makes a strong case for local authorities to assign increased responsibility for recycling to the informal waste sector. Unexpectedly wide differences were found between formal sector recycling, which has high capital costs and low recovery rates, and parallel informal sector activities, with very low costs, low energy usage, and relatively high recovery. The study includes case studies from Lima (Peru), Cairo (Egypt), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Quezon City (Philippines), Lusaka (Zambia), and Pune, (India), suggesting that there is room for innovative cross-financing that would integrate informal sector entrepreneurs into the modernisation process, improving the lives and working conditions of waste pickers and their families. The study, financed by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste in Low and Middle Income Countries (CWG) uses a material balance-process flow methodology to analyse materials flows and costs for the six cities.

Copyright:	© IWWG International Waste Working Group
Quelle:	Specialized Session C (Oktober 2007)
Seiten:	9
Preis:	€ 0,00
Autor:	Dr.-Ing. Günther Wehenpohl Martina Kolb
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