ABSTRACT
Approximately 15 million people work in the informal waste sector, in some cases providing low-income cities with higher recycling rates than their rich world counterparts. Usually the poorest and most marginalised, informal recyclers offer services to those who often cannot afford regulated services and can often physically reach places that formal services cannot, in some cases working where there is no organised waste or recycling collection. Meanwhile, there is a lack of economic mobility, with little chance to scale up their activities or move out of poverty. The work is dirty, and life expectancy is often shorter than in other work. They are often excluded as economically developing cities formalise their waste collection and face confrontation from registered waste managers. Case studies where the informal sector has been successfully, and unsuccessfully, integrated into urban waste management systems are considered. Ultimately, the informal sector offers an interesting model for circular economy practitioners to consider – small and specialist groups working with specific waste materials; this could offer a system for future specialist take-back and repair schemes.
