ABSTRACT
Product-Service Systems (PSS) design goals of social equity cannot ignore the highly structured, pyramidal aspects of the informal waste service and trade sector already in existence in India. The informal economy's near total 'invisibility' in official records, and hence in the economic welfare policies put forward by the state, is slowly being recognised and attempts are being made to rectify the statistical gap in public documentation and research dealing with this vital sector of the Indian economy. To enhance awareness of PSS in the design community, research on municipal solid waste (MSW) must incorporate all the structural elements of 'satisfaction' of major interest groups or 'stakeholders' in the field. The plans for a greater privatisation of MSW management in India so far only extend to the corporatisation of waste services, to the exclusion of the household and the informal sector.
