Waste Pickers - 1st Draft - Papoutsoglou D.

Waste pickers – 1st draft | Papoutsoglou Dimitra
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Informal Recycling Sector ................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Waste pickers ...................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Geographical Distribution ................................................................................................... 7
Latin America .............................................................................................................................. 7
Brazil........................................................................................................................................ 7
Colombia ................................................................................................................................. 7
United States............................................................................................................................... 7
Africa ........................................................................................................................................... 8
South Africa ............................................................................................................................. 8
Egypt ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Europe ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Asia ............................................................................................................................................ 10
India ...................................................................................................................................... 10
China ..................................................................................................................................... 10
1.4 International Organizations of waste pickers ................................................................... 11
Definition of MBOs.................................................................................................................... 11
Global Organizations ................................................................................................................. 12
WIEGO ................................................................................................................................... 12
GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF WASTE PICKERS ................................................................................. 12
Organizing in Latin America ...................................................................................................... 13
Red Lacre ............................................................................................................................... 13
Association of Waste Pickers of Bogotá (ARB) ...................................................................... 13
Movement of Excluded Workers .......................................................................................... 14
Organizing in Asia ...................................................................................................................... 14
India ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Organizing in Africa ................................................................................................................... 15
Organizing in Europe ................................................................................................................. 15
1.5 Cases of Integration .......................................................................................................... 16
ARB: Fighting for an Inclusive Model for Recycling in Bogota .................................................. 16
Inclusion to Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan ............................................................ 16
0
Dry Waste Collection Centers ................................................................................................... 16

2. Greece ....................................................................................................................................... 17
2.1 Solid Waste Management in Greece ................................................................................ 17
2.1 Waste pickers in Greece.................................................................................................... 17
Scavengers of Thessaloniki ................................................................................................... 18
The movie ‘’Raw Material’’ ................................................................................................... 18
3. Survey tools............................................................................................................................... 19
Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 19
Waste Management Analysis Tool (WMAT) for waste pickers................................................. 19
Questionnaires to waste pickers............................................................................................... 20
Tool for integrating of IRS ......................................................................................................... 20
Registration of waste pickers .................................................................................................... 20
References ........................................................................................................................................ 21
1
Introduction
Waste is a subjective notion. Some see waste as a risk to the public health and the
environment, others see it as a source of income. In the informal recycling sector, there is no
question that waste is perceived as a resource (1). When waste management services are
planning in a city, we need to remember there are informal waste workers who convert waste
to essential materials needed to run the economy (2). According to the relevant literature,
the contribution of informal recycling to total recycling is a key factor any solid waste
management plan should estimate. Given this is not the case only for developing countries of
Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The informal recycling sector also persists alongside the
modern, formal sector recycling in Central and Eastern Europe and it is even reappearing in
Southern Europe, further amplified by the effects of considerable immigration influx
combined with the current economic crisis (3).
2
Abbreviations
APE Association for the Protection of the Environment (Egypt)
EIR Environmental Implementation Review

ELV End Life Cycle Vehicles
EPR Extended Producer Responsibility

EXPRA Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance
GTZ German Technical Co-operation
IRS Informal Recycling Sector
ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, founded in 1990 as the International Council for
Local Environmental Initiatives
ISWA International Solid Waste Association
MBO Member Based Organization

MRF Materials Recovery Facility
MSW Municipal Solid Waste

PPA Private Profitability Analysis
SCBA Social Cost Benefit Analysis

SWM Solid Waste Management
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
UN United Nations
WIEGO Women in Informal Employment : Globalizing and Organizing
3
1.1 Informal Recycling Sector

A definition of informal solid waste sector by a German Technical Co-operation Study refers to
individuals or enterprises who are involved in recycling and waste management activities but are not
sponsored, financed, recognized or allowed by the formal solid waste authorities, or who operate in
violation of or in competition with formal authorities. Different from other sectors’ informal part, the
waste informal sector usually relates to lack of social and economic status but no directly to the black
economy (3).
The informal economy of waste consists of a complex networks of waste pickers, itinerant waste
buyers, second-hand markets, dealers, and a wide range of recycling industries. According to Wiego
(Women in Informal Employment: globalizing and organizing), millions of people worldwide make a
living collecting, sorting, recycling, and selling materials that someone else has thrown away.
Several studies have documented this contribution of waste pickers to all ongoing waste collection in
most cities in developing countries at no cost to the city budget (4).
1.2 Waste pickers

According to Hayami et al. (2006), waste pickers constitute the bottom tier of the urban informal
sector. At the figure below the position occupied by the waste pickers in the broader waste
management system is illustrated (Fig. 1).
Figure 1 The position of informal waste pickers in the broader waste management system for
developing countries (10)
4
Figure 2 Generic Structure of the Informal Recovery & Recycling Chain in Developing Countries (4)
Gerdesand et al. (2010) emphasizes that while informal activities such as street waste picking very
often take place outside official and formal channels and are unlicensed and untaxed, street waste
pickers nevertheless contribute significantly to national economies (10). The market of reprocessing
materials can save local authorities around 20% of waste management expenses. However, persisting
factual and perceived problems are associated with IRS (waste-picking): occupational and public
health and safety (H&S), child labour, uncontrolled pollution, untaxed activities, crime and political
collusion.
Figure 3 Jobs created by a waste picker (hasirudala.in)
The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Task Force on Globalization and Waste Management
has been working towards preparing guidelines on how best to promote the inclusion/integration of
the informal sector within a city’s waste management system (3).
5
Scheinberg et al. (2016) state three confrontations of the informal recycling sector with the formal
waste management system (6). Waste management companies have difficulty with the fact that street
pickers ‘make a mess’ when extracting valuable materials from waste setouts or containers, making
their work more difficult. Conflicts with private waste companies arise in countries like Austria or
Colombia, where private waste collection is paid by the ton and then the companies say that waste
pickers are ‘stealing the waste’, even when the households make a decision to give their washing
machines or old clothes to an informal reuse entrepreneur or to someone collecting to sell at the flea
market.
Waste industry trade associations also note that ‘invasion’ of landfills by dump pickers makes these
landfills unsafe and unsanitary (Newman, 2015; Scheinberg, 2011; Schmied et al., 2011). The third,
and perhaps the most dramatic set of confrontations comes when waste pickers harvest discarded
packaging waste and waste from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), which are covered by
packaging or e-waste collection and EPR schemes. These systems enjoy robust levels of capitalization
and political support, but, owing to informal recyclers and reuse operators, have been documented
to capture less than 10% of total recyclables collected in countries like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey,
Malta, and Greece (EXPRA, 2014; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2016;
Scheinberg and Nesic, 2014).
Table 1 Global informal occupations as documented in Europe (6)
6
1.3 Geographical Distribution

Solid waste recycling in developing countries was generally carried out by the informal sector
(Gutberlet, 2010; Medina 2007). This was true at some stage in the past, in what are now high-income
developed countries (Velis et al., 2009; Wilson, 2007). It is still the case in the low- and middle-income
developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The informal recycling sector also persists
alongside the ‘modern’, formal sector recycling in Central and Eastern Europe (Istavan et al., 2010;
Obersteiner et al., 2010); in emerging economies, such as Malaysia (Murad and Siwar, 2007)—now
officially a high-income country; and is even reappearing in Southern Europe, further amplified by the
effects of considerable immigration influx combined with the current economic crisis (3).
A World Bank Report in 2018 on solid waste management (7) acknowledges that resource recovery in
most developing countries relies heavily on informal workers who collect, sort and recycle 15-20% of
generated waste.
Medina (2007) states that the amount and characteristics of waste generated in First and Third World
countries differ markedly. Waste generation rates in industrialised cities are typically higher than in
cities in Third World countries, and the quantity of waste generated tends to increase as income
increases. The average US resident produces over 1.5 kg of waste per day, while a person in Cotonou,
Benin (Africa) produces only 125 g in the same period. Waste generated by First World communities
therefore creates survival opportunities for waste pickers who live in these communities (10).
There is little willingness to acknowledge that informal activities are though affecting solid waste and
recycling systems in middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries North America, Oceania, high-
income Asia, and in Europe (6). This explains in part why the level of confrontation between waste
pickers and local and national authorities seems higher – and more complex to resolve in Europe than
in other parts of the world (Luppi and Vergalito, 2013).
Latin America
According to Medina et. al. (2009) there are approximately 15 million informal recyclers in the world
today, 3.8 million of which are in Latin America (3).
Brazil
In Brazil, it is estimated that up to 100.000 people live by collecting and selling recyclables (11).
Colombia
In Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, one of the largest and important cities in economic terms in
south America, there are approximately 13.800 waste pickers (13). Most of them are men (69%)
between the ages of 26 to 50. Their main activities include collecting, sorting and transporting
recyclable materials which they bring to collection centers. Historically, Colombia’s waste picker
population has been made up of economic migrants and displaced people driven from their homes by
the country’s armed conflict. Colombia’s waste pickers are considered pioneers in the world for their
organizing experiences.
United States
American waste pickers predominantly collect cans, bottles, and cardboard. Many immigrants work
as waste pickers because language and documentation barriers limit their opportunities to work
elsewhere. Many homeless people also work as waste pickers—some describes it as their only
alternative to panhandling. Some recyclers use vans to increase their yield while others work on foot
7
with carts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most American waste pickers are male, as waste picking
is widely considered too dirty and strenuous a job for women. During an ethnography of homeless
recyclers in San Francisco, sociologist Teresa Gowan claims to have met hundreds of male waste
pickers, but only four female waste pickers (4).
Africa
South Africa
According to Benson and Vanqa-Mgijima (2010), South Africa has a long history of people collecting
waste off the streets to survive. Since the adoption of neo-liberal policies in South Africa, job losses
have shifted people onto the streets in order to earn an income or sustain a livelihood, and, as Medina
(2007) indicates, waste collecting and selling is an activity that saves many people from starvation
(10).
Benson and Vanqa-Mgijima (2010) report that in Cape Town the waste pickers referred to their work
as "skarreling", "grab grab", "mining" and "minza" (the latter meaning "trying to survive").
Langenhoven and Dyssel (2007) refer to the South African Yearbook for 2004-2005 which indicates
that during that period, roughly 37.000 people in South Africa earned a living from recycling (10).
Although the wide range of recycling activities in South Africa, the municipal waste management
systems do not appear to be ready to accommodate the waste pickers (10).
Egypt
Gerdes and Gunsilius (2010) indicate that the official waste management systems in cities such as
Cairo, could not be managed without the myriad of waste pickers and scrap collectors, who often form
the basis of waste collection services at no cost to local authorities, central government and residents
(10). Zabbaleen—which translates to people of the trash—is a name that this community uses proudly.
The Zabbaleen are descendants from farmers and herders who moved from Upper Egypt to Cairo two
or three generations ago. Because these first migrants were Christians and did not have the religious
prohibition against owning pigs, they brought their pigs with them to Cairo. The early Zabbaleen
gathered organic waste to feed to their pigs and sold the manure as fertilizer. In this way the early
Zabbaleen quickly established a livelihood. Cairo soon came to depend on the Zabbaleen ‘s waste
collection services. When recycling technology came to Egypt, the Zabbaleen expanded their business
to adapt to the new markets. Unfortunately, the Zabbaleen are looked down upon by the rest of Cairo
society, and their important role is overlooked. Recognizing the important role, the Zabbaleen play in
waste management, the Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) began working with
the community. With the help of APE, the Zabbaleen established the Kattameya Center for Integrated
Waste Management and Recycling in Cairo, Egypt. The Kattameya Centre’s mission is to promote
environmentally safe solid waste management in Cairo by empowering waste collectors to use
improved technology and sound financial management practices. The Kattameya Center also aims to
earn recognition for the Zabbaleen’s work and improve their acceptance in Cairo (11) .
Europe
The review paper Scheinberg et al. (2016) gathered numbers of informal reusers and recyclers in
Europe from literature review, estimating that might be as many as one million active: 80.000 second-
hand and reuse operators in Italy; 71.000 in Turkey; up to 50.000 in Serbia; 20.000 in Greece; 20.000
in Paris; 5.000 in the Western Hungarian city of Devecser; and 5.000 in Skopje, Macedonia.
8
Most waste pickers in the EU belong to one or more of three vulnerable groups.
1. Persons of Roma ethnicity, who have very low educational levels and are the targets – especially in
Italy – of a range of social exclusion measures.
2. Internal and cross-border migrants and refugees without legal status or lacking formal identity
papers.
3. Young persons, the elderly, women heads-of-household, homeless persons, and others who are
excluded from the labour market (6).
Indeed, there are many more informal recyclers in Europe than is generally acknowledged, and their
recovery activities are undermining EU-harmonised recycling, reuse, waste management, and
producer responsibility systems.
This institutionalised approach to waste and materials management creates an entirely different
context for informal reuse and recycling in Europe than for similar activities in Asia, Latin America, and
Africa (6) . Especially in the new EU (Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia) and pre-accession countries,
such as Turkey and former Yugoslav republics, producers are under pressure to organise packaging
recovery systems. Even though producers in these countries know how the value chains work, they
often do not see informal recyclers and reuse operators as being critical to the entire recycling system.
Packaging schemes in Turkey and the Balkans are losing target materials, seeing them pass through
informal hands and diminishing the value of investments in modern packaging systems (Eröztürk,
2015; EXPRA, 2014; Springloop Cooperative, 2016). While the precise mechanism to integrate waste
pickers to the formal recycling sector, it appears that the Circular Economy Package could also provide
an umbrella for the development of funding occupational categories in reuse and recycling. Up to now,
it appears that Serbia might be the only EU country with occupational recognition of “collectors of
secondary raw materials.” (6).
9
Table 2 Numbers of informal recyclers and reuse operators in six European countries (6)
Asia
India
Researchers estimate that about 1% of the urban population in India is active in the informal recycling
sector. By cultural aspect, in India, waste picking, along with any work related to garbage is
traditionally bound to the lowest caste (14).
China
It is estimated that China has the largest number of waste pickers in the world. An estimated 2.5
million work as waste pickers in the cities and small towns of China. China is a big dumping ground for
the waste from high income countries and hence domestic recycling efforts are not very profitable
(11).
10
1.4 International Organizations of waste pickers

In recent decades waste pickers across Latin America, Asia, and Africa have begun collectively
organizing to win a place within formal recycling systems. They use many organizational formats
including cooperatives, associations, companies, unions, and micro-enterprises. Despite the
differences in format, most of these organizations share three primary purposes. First, by pooling
capital, establishing microenterprises, and forming partnerships with business and government, waste
collectors increase their selling power. Second, by securing uniforms, safety equipment, and work
permits, cooperatives increase workplace dignity and safety. And third, by demanding recognition and
compensation from the state for their environmental and economic contributions, cooperatives
increase members’ political might (4).
Some waste pickers have created "women’s only" organizations, which seek to combat gender-based
discrimination at worksites and in communities. A study in Brazil indicates that women are heavily
overrepresented, making up 56% of the membership even though they represent only a third of the
total waste picking population (4).
In March 2008, delegates from 30 countries gathered in Bogotá, Colombia, for the first World
Conference (and Third Latin American Conference) of Waste Pickers (WIEGO 2008). One of the key
issues discussed was the global trend of privatization and concentration of waste management
systems. Governments around the world are granting private companies monopolies on waste
management systems, meaning that the cooperatives’ survival hinges on building political and
economic alliances needed to win contracts—often an uphill battle given authorities’ distrust of waste
collectors and the cooperatives’ lack of capital for modern machinery (4).
Definition of MBOs
MBOs member-based organization / mutual assistance organizations ranging from self-help groups
and unions through to market-based co-operatives, and informal associations.
As expressions of collective action and democratic organization, they are member-controlled legal
entities, subject to local laws and regulations. They typically include the relatively disadvantaged in
their membership, and promote the well-being of all members, which means that even those MBOs
that have an economic function are social (and sometimes political) in their orientation.
A positive view of MBOs in the social economy is that they are a way in which people can regain
control, assert their collective ability to do things for themselves, engage directly with the market, and
engage more effectively with decentralized levels of government. MBOs can also act as effective
partners with government for the “co-production” of services as well as informing, demanding and
contributing to decisions for more equitable resource redistribution.
An example is Brazil’ s “solidarity economy”, in which new MBOs are encouraged as a policy strategy
for poverty reduction and social inclusion. For example, residents’ associations in urban
neighbourhoods in Cerea State are promoting “prosumers” (mutually supportive producers and
consumers) by deliberately using a social currency to stimulate local neighbourhood economies (3).
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Global Organizations
WIEGO
Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing (WIEGO) is a global network focused on
securing livelihoods for the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy. Today WIEGO
is a thriving network of 211 Individual and Institutional Members in over 40 countries.
The WIEGO Network comprises membership-based organizations (MBOs) of informal workers who
are involved in the identification, prioritization and design of all activities individual researchers who
are engaged in analysis of the informal economy development practitioners who are concerned with
poverty and informality.
Office: Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Limited
Manchester, UK 44-161-819-1200, email wiego@wiego.org
WIEGO began the Focal City model in Accra, Ghana and Lima, Peru. In 2016, Delhi, India has been
added. In January 2017, Focal City initiative has been extended to include Dakar, Senegal and Mexico
City, Mexico.
GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF WASTE PICKERS

The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers is a networking process supported by WIEGO, among thousands
of waste pickers’ organizations with groups in more than 28 countries covering mainly Latin America,
Asia and Africa. Waste pickers Around the World (WAW) is the first global database on waste pickers,
created by Global Alliance of Waste Pickers.
The members of Global Alliance of waste pickers are originated from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile,
Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Uruguay,
Nicaragua, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar,
India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Nepal.
12
Figure 4 Waste pickers organizations and waste pickers around the world (Global Alliance of
Waste Pickers, 2019)
Organizing in Latin America

In 1962, the first known Latin American waste picker's organization, Cooperativa Antioqueña de
Recolectores de Subproductos, was created in Medellin, Colombia. The Colombian waste pickers
movement did not emerge as a veritable political force until 1990, when four cooperatives who had
been fighting the closure of a landfill united as the Waste Collector's Association of Bogotá (ARB).
Today the ARB is one of the world's most active and established waste picker organizations. In 2013,
the Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded to Nohra Padilla (representing the ARB) for her
contribution to waste management and recycling in Colombia.
Throughout the 1990s, powerful waste collectors associations began to form in other Latin American
countries as well—most notably in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay (4).
Red Lacre
The Latin American Network, (Red Lacre), is an organization that represents and involves labour
movements that unite waste pickers throughout Latin America. Red Lacre is one of the founders of
the Global Alliance and its mission is to improve the working conditions of waste pickers and to initiate
dialogue between countries in order to share experiences, organize, and act. The network represents
waste pickers’ groups in 15 countries and has been holding regional conferences or assemblies every
two years since 2005 (4)..
Association of Waste Pickers of Bogotá (ARB)

Bogotá’s Waste Pickers Association (ARB, Asociación Cooperativa de Recicladores de Bogotá) is one of
the most robust associations of waste pickers worldwide and has been working for the defence of
waste pickers’ rights for more than 20 years. In Bogota, where progressive legislation had been passed,
ARB played a critical role in monitoring implementation and assessing unexpected outcomes. In March
2013, waste pickers in Bogotá witnessed the introduction of a payment scheme for their services in
reclaiming recyclable materials, with the payments funded from the fee charged to waste collection
service users. That payment scheme forms part of an even greater transformation in the regulatory
framework that opens the door to the inclusion of waste pickers into solid waste management
throughout the country. Bogota’s payment system became one of the first of its kind, and since then,
other cities in Colombia have followed suit, including Pereira in March 2019 (13).
13
Movement of Excluded Workers

In Argentina, the Movement of Excluded Workers is the largest waste pickers organization. It is a social
organization, independent from political parties, which brings together more than 2.000 cartoneros
(waste picker) in Capital Federal and the suburbs, specifically in the neighbourhoods of Lanus and de
Lomas Zamora (4).
Watching the feature film “Waste Picking Stories”
The feature film “Waste Picking Stories” (Catadores de História) directed by filmmaker Tania
Quaresma was released on online platforms on December 13, 2018. It received three awards at the
49th edition of the Brasilia Festival of Brazilian Cinema. “What we heard the most during all of the
shooting process was about the importance of men and women waste pickers being seen, being
acknowledged,” said Tania Quaresma. The film depicts the lives of waste pickers from several regions
of Brazil. It is a moving experience thanks to the richness of the testimonies and the intense dialogues
with the waste pickers, who were part of the entire production process in public screenings of parts
of the film and by sharing their opinions about the results.
Organizing in Asia
India
India is home to Asia's largest waste picker movement. The Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers (AIW) is
made up of over 30 organisations that work with waste pickers in 24 cities in India. Self-Employed
Women's Association of India, a trade union that exclusively organizes women in the informal
economy and has a membership of over one million, began organizing waste pickers in the late 1970s.
An Indian waste pickers union is known as KKPKP recently carried out a mapping initiative to identify
organizations of or that work with waste pickers across the continent—a first step towards the
development of an Asian network. In Pune, there is a worker cooperative of Waste Pickers, called
SWaCH (4). In Delhi, the NGO Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group promotes health and
safety at the work of waste pickers by providing gloves and mouth masks and also provides a steady
source of income by paying a monthly wage (4). Hasiru Dala (the “Green Force”) is a social impact
organization based in India that focuses on justice for waste pickers through interventions in the areas
of identity rights, healthcare, housing, skill development, market and employment access, and multi-
tier policy advocacy (14).
14
Figure 5 Hasiru Dala milestones (Hasiru Dala, 2019)
Organizing in Africa
WIEGO launched a program to identify and contact waste picker groups throughout Africa. It is
supporting the South African Waste Pickers Association, the Book Diomm association in Senegal, the
developing Kenyan Alliance, and the network of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. StreetNet
International, the international alliance of street and market vendors, is also assisting by encouraging
its African affiliates to organize waste pickers in their respective countries.
The South African Waste Picker organization held its first meeting in July 2009, which included 100
waste pickers from 26 landfills across the country (4).
In Egypt, Zabaleen is the predominantly Coptic Christian community, which in the 1940s began
collecting garbage—work viewed as impure by Egypt's Muslim majority. In 2003, the Zabaleen's
existence and way of life came under threat when Cairo authorities awarded annual contracts to three
multinational garbage disposal companies, pushing the Zabaleen to collectively defend their work
through small groups and organizations (4).
Organizing in Europe
At Global Alliance of Waste Pickers database, there are four registered organizations originated from
Europe: Syndicate of waste picker of the Republic of Serbia (Nis), Rete Nazionale Operatori dell’ Usato
(Rete ONU) (Naples), Sauve qui Peut (Paris area) and Amelior (Paris area).
The Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance (EXPRA), a non-profit organisation based in Brussels for
packaging and packaging waste recovery and recycling systems has been also involved in several
initiatives and studies about the informal sector.
The action research project ‘Engaging Informal Recyclers in Europe’ received funds from WIEGO in
2012 and was designed around consultations, casual meetings with groups of informal recyclers on
landfills. Consultations were held in Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Italy, and Greece, with
the goal to establish a base of information and identify the main issues facing the collectors. The
general reactions to business-based integration approaches were positive, but there was little interest
expressed in forming cooperatives or social enterprises (6).
15
1.5 Cases of Integration

Velis et al. (2012) concluded at three principal interventions for the integration of Informal Recycling
Sector: (a) source separation of wastes as the intervention most likely to improve quality of products
and, thus, revenues, (b) enabling access to capital and (c) legal ownership of waste at the point.
ARB: Fighting for an Inclusive Model for Recycling in Bogota

ARB with support from WIEGO and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) launched a research
project to identify the real costs incurred by waste pickers in recovering waste materials. This research
proved to be fundamental in determining the tariff methodology that was used to calculate payment
to waste pickers in exchange for recycling services. To participate in the payment scheme, waste
pickers had to comply with several requisites: they had to be included in the census of waste pickers,
have an ID card, and have a bank account. In the beginning, the system benefitted 740 waste pickers,
and by January 2014, the scheme had expanded to cover about 5.000 waste pickers, of whom 35
percent were ARB members.
Inclusion to Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan

In 2011, the local body of Bengaluru for solid waste management issued occupational ID cards for
waste pickers and included waste pickers’ activities in the Plan of Dry Waste of the city. In 2016, the
Federal Rules of Bengaluru for Solid Waste recognized the contribution of waste pickers and regulated
their inclusion to the local Plan for Solid Waste Management. Given the size of Bengaluru, seven
organizations and institutions got together to assist in the process with mobilization, registration, and
training.
Dry Waste Collection Centers

Collection centers for waste pickers improve dramatically storage conditions and can be crucial for
sorting no recyclable materials by mixed municipal bins. The decentralized system of storage can be
also an alternative option. Hasiru Dala organization stated the high importance of collection centers if
no segregation at source is available (4).
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2. Greece
2.1 Solid Waste Management in Greece

Waste management is one of the most serious and complicated environmental issues in Greece (22).
The 2019 Environmental Implementation Review (2019 EIR) for Greece published by European
Commission reported that Greece disposes most of its municipal waste in landfills (80 %, vs EU average
of 24%), with only 19 % being recycled (EU average 46 %).
According to Eurostat, Greece produced 5.362.000 tons of municipal waste in 2016, of which
5.277.000 tons were treated, 4.415.000 landfilled, 698.000 tons recycled, 27.000 tons incinerated
including energy recovery and 135.000 tons composted and digested (23).
In 2018, 20 uncontrolled landfills have been found, still used and 46 closed, but not sanitary landfill
sites and 21 necessarily further used deposits. Greece adopted a landfill tax law in 2012 which is
expected to be applied in the next few years through community taxes to the households.
Nevertheless, an increase in the cost of official waste disposal might lead to a rise in illegal dumping
of waste, thereby causing failure to achieve both environmental and revenue-raising objectives (22).
Regarding packaging waste, according to the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation (HE.R.R.Co) 94
percent of the country’s population has been covered in 2016 by 157.000 Blue Bins, and more than
7.000 Blue Bells have been placed where citizens can deposit all waste packaging. Based on data of
2012, the recovery rates differed between batteries (35 percent), packaging waste (58 percent), metal
scrap from ELV (71 percent) and WEEE (reuse/recycling by 88 percent) (23). In line with the New
National Waste Management Plan, the recycling ratio is even lower in terms of municipal waste
recycling (blue bins) and municipal packaging recovery does not exceed 5% (22).
On 29 November 2017, a new law (4496/2017) changed the conditions for packaging recycling. Before,
the Greece municipalities were responsible for the collection, transport and storage of waste, done
by locally owned services or with the help of licensed firms. After the new law entered into force, the
municipalities are allowed to manage the recyclable material and to generate revenue by themselves.
Although the separation of glass, paper, plastics and aluminum is obligate, this new intake will reduce
costs and force stakeholders to collect waste segregated at source.
2.1 Waste pickers in Greece

In Greece informal recycling (known as ‘grey recycling’) is still carried out by marginalized social
groups, usually Roma people whose main occupation is scavenging or waste picking. They collect scrap
and other devices as well as electric and electronic equipment usually from the streets, occupying the
lowest position of the hierarchy, earning very frugal wages. In the second level, intermediate dealers
who could be scavengers, second hand dealers, scrap dealers or scrap dealer small enterprises buy
the materials from Roma and sell the secondary raw materials either to corresponding municipal
authorities or to collection centers associated to the WEEE management system (25).
The New National Waste Management Plan pointed out the informal recycling sector contribution to
the failure of Greece to reach recycling goals (30). In addition, the Country Paper for Recycling (2011)
confirms this by stating: “Many economic immigrants, living under extreme poverty remove the most
valuable materials from the bins and leave the low value recyclables. In this way, income for the MRFs
17
is substantially reduced. A typical example is the quantity of recyclables (including packaging and
printed paper) recovered in 2011, which amounted to 478.000 tons, decreased over 7% in comparison
to 2010 (511.000 tonnes) and 19% decrease in comparison with 2008. Notably, the previously referred
quantities of recyclables (years 2011 and 2010) represent a major part of the total amounts of the
recyclables that are led to recycling units, which were managed by the HE.R.R.Co S.A (Hellenic
Recovery Recycling Corporation). The decrease is mainly due to the reduced generated waste after
the economic crisis as well as the effect of material removal from the blue bins by scavengers”. (26)
Scavengers of Thessaloniki
One of the major issues raised by the informal sector is the organized thefts of paper which are
estimated to more than 25.000 tons in 2017. Local authorities have difficulty with the fact that waste
pickers make a mess when extracting paper from blue bins. In Thessaloniki, in November 2019,
conflicts of collectors with passers-by provoked the police intervention. According to a member of
local council, recyclable materials are daily stolen by blue bins in the city, with significant aesthetic
concerns especially for the touristic part of the city (28).
The movie ‘’Raw Material’’

Raw Material (2012) is a movie by Christos Karakepelis on the business of metal recycling in Athens.
The film describes the everyday life of scavengers living in the Attica region. People in the film came
to Athens from Albania, India, Turkey, and elsewhere. "The city exists around them but is indifferent
to their situation," the director says. He estimated 80.000 Athenians who collect and process scrap in
the city's informal economy (29).
18
3. Survey tools
Literature Review
Scheinberg et al. (2016) conducted a review on integrating informal recyclers and reuse operators in
Europe focused on the period from 2004 to 2016 with 78 literature sources of European and
neighboring countries. The article is divided into three parts, general introduction contextualized with
global information for waste pickers, sources’ review and conclusions.
The sources fall into four categories in terms of type:
1. Academic article, action research or student report, conference, project report.
2. Social or labour advocacy and/or organising.
3. Policy documents, laws, government, donor consultant reports, plans.
4. Direct information provided by individuals or organisations working on informal recycling and reuse
in Europe.
The 78 entries in the reference list can be classified in terms of content:
1. Sources documenting and characterising informal recyclers and reuse operators in Europe.
2. Sources introducing the collision course between informal recyclers and reuse operators, and
formal stakeholders.
3. Sources presenting initiatives, projects, and approaches to informal legalization and integration
solutions.
Scheinberg et al. (2016) proposes a set of steps to study the informal recycling sector:
1. Collection and validation of socio-economic numbers: Census, ethnicity, sex, age, location, numbers
of people living from informal recycling and reuse, vulnerabilities, and the like.
2. Technical and economic performance and impact numbers: Numbers of tons diverted from disposal
through informal valorization activities and associated with modeling of negative and positive impacts.
3. Occupational and professional characteristics: Occupations by country and city and rural/urban
distribution; institutions and enterprises that have a link with the informal sector.
4. Revisiting analysis of aspects of the European waste system where there are large reported ‘losses’
of hazardous wastes or e-waste to examine the role of informal activity and whether legalization and
integration could improve the effectiveness of tracking and traceability in Europe.
5. Creating specific procedures for reporting, benchmarking, and legalization at the level of EU
Directives in the framework of the circular economy package.
Researchers also carried out a SWOT analysis of European waste pickers status in recycling and reuse
sectors. In parallel, four cases of collision are described to further illustrate the general situation.
Waste Management Analysis Tool (WMAT) for waste pickers

Clinton Global Initiative Rethinking Waste Thinking Group has funded a Private Profitability Analysis
(PPA) and Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA) for waste pickers organizations. The Kattameya Center
located in Cairo has been used as a model organization. This was the first type a management tool has
been applied in waste collectors’ community worldwide (11).
19
Questionnaires to waste pickers

Schenck et al. (2011) performed a study on work and lives of waste collectors of Pretoria, in South
Africa. A mixed approached has been followed combining qualitative and quantitative data. In the
beginning, a qualitative approach has been undertaken to obtain a basic understanding of the
activities of waste pickers. In this part of the inquiry, research is shaped from the bottom up by
listening to the voices of the people from individual perspectives. In the second part, a questionnaire
was developed based on primary conclusions. The questionnaire was tested, revised and completed
by a single fieldworker, fluent in several South African languages, who was able to translate the
questionnaire to facilitate respondents' understanding of the questions. The fieldworker was
instructed to interview all the street waste pickers she could find. Over 5 weeks, she identified and
interviewed waste pickers until no new interviewees could be found and information was saturated.
From previous experience, it was evident that the best places to find the waste pickers were at the
buy-back centers, where they sell the goods they have collected. The fieldworker noted that she
encountered the same waste pickers at different buy-back centers. The study of street waste pickers
in India conducted by Hayami et al. (2006) reveals similar movements of collectors between buy-back
centers.
Tool for integrating of IRS

Velis et al. (2012) developed a tool for evaluation of the interventions which promote the integration
of the informal recycling sector to the formal solid waste management. A total of 10 cases were
examined to test the novel framework/tool and demonstrate how it could be applied. Authors
described the methodology they followed included literature review, developing a typology and
gathering case studies of previous interventions, organizing an international workshop and applying
the tool at cases selected.
Registration of waste pickers

The report of organization Hasiru Dala (21) describes a protocol for waste pickers’ registration. The
survey was a collaborative effort between NGOs, Municipal Solid Waste Management Department
and some Engineers. Firstly, a survey took place for the authentication of collectors. The surveyors
identified the areas where the waste pickers lived. Field visits of the slums were organized as an
introduction. The information gathered included location, age, education, income level, hours of work
and family details.
A first pilot identified the gaps and helped improve the efficiency of the process. Afterward, 5.000
registration forms for waste pickers and itinerant buyers were distributed, 3.000 for scrap deals and
1.000 instruction forms. The information collected has been used to determine the socio-economic
status of 4.175 waste pickers.
20
References
(1) Sembiring E, Nitivattananon V (2010) Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society:
Integration of the informal sector. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 802-809
(2) https://wastenarratives.com/what-is-hasiru-dala (accessed in November 2019)
(3) Velis CA, Wilson DC, Rocca O, et al. (2012) An analytical framework and tool (‘InteRa’) for integrating the
informal recycling sector in waste and resource management systems in developing countries. Waste
Management Research 30: 43–46.
(4) Hasiru Dala (2013) Dry Waste Collection Centers and waste pickers. Hasiru Dala
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_picker (accessed in November 2019)
(6) Scheinberg A, Nesic J, Savain R, Luppi P, Sinnott P, Petean F and Pop F (2016) From collision to
collaboration – Integrating informal recyclers and reuse operators in Europe: A review. Waste Management &
Research 2016, Vol. 34(9) 820 –839
(7) World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (2018) World word Bank _What a waste 2.0. World
Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Available at
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2018/09/20/ what-a-waste-20-a-global-snapshot-of-solid-
waste-management-to-2050 (accessed in November 2019)
(8) Innovative types of formal member-based organizations (MBOs: Towards an analysis of trends and a
guide to MBO potential, Technical Report to the International Development Research Centre,
https://coady.stfx.ca/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/MBOStudyIDRC2011.pdf ) (accessed in November 2019)
(9) Wilson DC, Velis C, Cheeseman C (2006) Role of informal sector recycling in waste management in
developing countries. Habitat International 2006; 30; 797-808
(10) Schenck R, Frederick Blaauw P (2011) The Work and Lives of Street Waste Pickers in Pretoria—A Case
Study of Recycling in South Africa's Urban Informal Economy. URBAN FORUM, 22:411 ‐ 430
(11) Dias SM, Samson M (2016) Informal Economy Monitoring Study Sector Report: Waste Pickers. WIEGO.
Available at https://www.wiego.org/publications/informal-economy-monitoring-study-sector-report-waste-
pickers (accessed in November 2019)
(12) Bowman J, Dettmann M, Hillyard J, Osberg M and Wollschlager L (2011) The Waste Management
Analysis Tool and User Manual: A Tool for Financial and Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of Informal Waste
Management. CGI Rethinking Waste Thinking Group, Cason Family Foundation, Humphrey School of Public
Affairs, University of Minnesota
(13) Abizaid O (2015) ARB: Fighting for an Inclusive Model for Recycling in Bogotá. Women in Informal
Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, Inclusive Cities Project: 1 - 16
(14) http://hasirudala.in (accessed in November 2019)
(15) Chandran P, Shekar N, Abubaker M and Yadav A (2013) Informal Waste Workers Contribution Bangalore.
Hasiru Dala
(16) Hasiru Dala (2013) Integration of waste pickers in Bangalore’s Municipal Waste Management System for
their income security. Hasiru Dala
(17) https://globalrec.org/2019/02/06/all-the-dry-waste-collection-centres-in-bangalore-should-be-
operated-by-the-waste-pickers/ (accessed in November 2019)
(18) https://swachcoop.com (accessed in November 2019)
(19) https://globalrec.org/law-report/china/ accessed in November 2019
(20) Clapp A (2017) Europe Heart of Darkness. The Economist 1843, Stories of an extraordinary world
(accessed in November 2019)
(21) European Commission (2019) The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019 Country Report –
Greece. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/ (accessed in November 2019)
(22) Zachariadis T (2018) Landfill tax in Greece. Institute for European Environmental Policy
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(23) https://global-recycling.info/archives/2146 (accessed in November 2019)

(24) The Hellenic Republic (2015) New National Waste Management Plan. Available at
http://www.ypeka.gr/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=OI1lVu124Jk%3D&tabid=238&language=el-GR (accessed in
November 2019)
(25) Papaoikonomou K, Kipouros S, Kungolos A, Somakos L, Aravossis K, Antonopoulos I and Karagiannidis A
(2009) Marginalised social groups in contemporary WEEE management within social enterprises investments:
A study in Greece. Waste Management 29: 1754–1759
(26) European Commision (2011) The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2011 Country Factsheet for
Greece. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/pdf/ GR% 20factsheet_ FINAL.pdf
(27) https://www.lifo.gr/articles/environment_articles/199093/i-emmoni-moy-me-tin-anakyklosi-kai-i-
megali-elliniki-adiaforia (accessed in November 2019)
(28) https://www.alphatv.gr/news/koinonia/article/29503/minusi-gia-tis-klopes-ton-anakuklosimon-ulikon-
apo-tous-ble-kadous-katethese-o-dimarhos-thessalonikis (accessed in November 2019)
(29) Hattam J (2012) How the Garbage Pickers of Athens Predicted the Greek Economic Crisis. Kathimerini
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Dry Waste Collection Centers ................................................................................................... 16

APE Association for the Protection of the Environment (Egypt)

EIR Environmental Implementation Review

EPR Extended Producer Responsibility

GTZ German Technical Co-operation

IRS Informal Recycling Sector

ISWA International Solid Waste Association

MBO Member Based Organization

MSW Municipal Solid Waste

SCBA Social Cost Benefit Analysis

SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

WIEGO Women in Informal Employment : Globalizing and Organizing

1.1 Informal Recycling Sector

1.2 Waste pickers

Figure 3 Jobs created by a waste picker (hasirudala.in)

Table 1 Global informal occupations as documented in Europe (6)

1.3 Geographical Distribution

1.4 International Organizations of waste pickers

GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF WASTE PICKERS

Organizing in Latin America

Association of Waste Pickers of Bogotá (ARB)

Movement of Excluded Workers

Figure 5 Hasiru Dala milestones (Hasiru Dala, 2019)

1.5 Cases of Integration

ARB: Fighting for an Inclusive Model for Recycling in Bogota

Inclusion to Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan

Dry Waste Collection Centers

2.1 Solid Waste Management in Greece

2.1 Waste pickers in Greece

The movie ‘’Raw Material’’

Waste Management Analysis Tool (WMAT) for waste pickers

Questionnaires to waste pickers

Tool for integrating of IRS

Registration of waste pickers

(23) https://global-recycling.info/archives/2146 (accessed in November 2019)

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