Informal Sector in Waste Management

ABSTRAK Kegiatan kitar semula adalah komponen penting dalam pengurusan sisa pejal pada masa kini. Walaubagaimanapun penglibatan orang awam secara umumnya masih sangat rendah. Oleh itu, kewujudan sekelompok manusia yang menjadikan kegiatan pengumpulan bahan kitar semula sebagai mata pendapatan juga merupakan satu sumbangan besar kepada pengurusan sisa pejal. Kertas kerja ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti latar belakang dan aktiviti pengumpulan barang kitar semula di tapak pelupusan serta sumbangan kepada alam sekitar. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan melalui penggunaan borang soal selidik keatas 46 orang pengumpul sampah di Kawasan kajian. Selain dari itu penilaian Kitaran Hayat (LCA) digunakan untuk melihat kesan kepada alam sekitar melalui jumlah bahan terkumpul. Analisis LCA yang dicadangkan dapat melihat sumbangan bahan kitar semula kepada jumlah penjimatan gas karbon dioksida (CO2), gas metana (CH4), dan nitrogen dioksida (N20) dalam pemprosesan bahan kitar semula kepada penghasilan bahan baru. Dapatan menunjukkan bahawa kebanyakan mereka yang terlibat dalam aktiviti pengumpulan bahan kitar semula di Kawasan kajian adalah golongan imigran dari negara kepulauan melayu iaitu Indonesia dan Malaysia. Mereka kebanyakannya datang dari negara Indonesia dan Filipina. Walauoun berdepan dengan ancaman keselamatan dan kesihatan, usaha mereka untuk mencari pendapatan buat keluarga menjadikan kerjaya mereka sangat berharga. Selanjutnya, dapatan juga menunjukan sumbangan mereka kepada pengumpulan bahan kitar semula sangat besar. Ini kerana, dalam sesebuah negara yang rakyatnya mempunyai ksesedaran kitar semula yang rendah, kehadiran golongan ini sangat penting. Oleh itu, secara tidak langsung sumbangan kepada alam sekitar juga amat tinggi terutama dalam menyelamatkan penggunaan bahan asli dalam pemprosesn bahan baru. Oleh itu pendekatan yang lebih cekap mesti dibangunkan agar golongan ini dapat beroperasi dengan lebih baik.

Technology/Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is fundamental to socioeconomic and political development today. Consequently, it has also accelerated the global rise in Electronic Waste (e-waste)/Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) that usually contains toxic chemicals. In this study, five countries, i.e., Ghana, Nigeria, India, China, and the Philippines were sampled for the similarity in the pervasiveness of the toxic stream of e-waste. Thus combining qualitative and quantitative methods, aggregate data from several relevant sources were used to answer the question of e-waste-human health association from the increased occupational exposure. Subsequently, the role of the informal recycling sector to the e-waste problem was the focus of this study, where it was observed that the vulnerable population including children and women constitute the informal workforce. The hazards of e-waste/WEEE included health implications arising from exposure to high concentrations of toxic chemicals including brominated flame retardants and some dioxins which were identified in and around impacted environments in the sampled countries. It was concluded that economic factors, education, and management/policy inadequacy precede potentially toxic exposure amid the informal sector, non-occupational and urban residents.

Chennai is a cosmopolitan, transnational South Indian state capital, generating over 5,000 tons of solid waste per day, primarily disposed of in two refuse dumps situated atop wetlands. Waste is defined here, following Gidwani and Reddy, as “a mobile description of that which has been cast our or judged superfluous in a particular space-time. It is a technical and political artifact that gathers force in its performativity” (2011: 1649). Waste is tangible, visible matter. But it also influences, in its presence and absence, the political economy and ecology of the city. This paper is not an analysis of the (mis)management of waste in Chennai, but an inquiry into the economic and cultural values of waste; waste simultaneously embodies plenitude and scarcity, despair and hope, worthlessness and value, repulsion and compulsion. Waste is not a thing of zero value, but a complex social fact representing chiasmically intertwined dualisms, that culturally transforms—in its presence and absence, invisibility and visibility—the urban landscapes of Chennai. The paper contributes to a long line of literature exploring the cultural economy of waste, asking, what do the transformations in value of waste tell us about cultural and individual values in Chennai? How do human-waste relationships reflect and reproduce interclass and caste tensions? The paper is based on an ethnographic study conducted from May to August 2013 in Chennai, and draws on semi-structured interviews of 30 middle-class residents of gated communities in Chennai as well as on semi-structured and informal interviews of domestic laborers, conservancy workers, informal waste workers, and other key informants (e.g., waste management officials, environmental activists).

The increasing population and urbanization have played major role in the increase of solid waste generation. As waste management is a complex task, there are various actors responsible for its proper management. Itinerant waste buyers (IWBs) purchase the dry recyclables from households and institutions. This study explored the livelihood status of IWBs working in Kathmandu, Nepal. I used ethnographic research design in doing this study. The discussion was done with IWBs working in Teku-Kalimati, Baudhha, Kalopool and Pepsi-cola areas. The study shows the involvement of people from the Terai region and neighbouring India working as the IWBs and their experiences regarding it. This paper has brought the livelihood status of IWBs, challenges faced and other alternatives works they might be interested in. Apart from this, this study has included the experiences and stories of the IWBs as the main information source to portray the livelihood status of the waste workers. Despite of their hard work and major role in making city clean, facing frequent misbehavior and humiliation, the roles of IWBs in their regular work have been neglected by the people. The obtained information has been discussed together with my personal experiences and field observation with supporting literatures.

Informal waste recovery is a vital occupation for urban dwellers without formal
economic opportunities. Despite the prevalence of informal waste pickers in urban areas,
little is known about tension and conflict associated with pickers’ ability to access trash
at municipal waste sites. In this article, ethnographic field data are analyzed to explore
themes of tension and conflict as experienced by informal waste pickers at the Managua,
Nicaragua, municipal waste site. Special attention is paid to two recent events in the
waste site: the announcement of a large-scale development project that will radically
change municipal solid waste management practices at the site and a month-long strike
carried out by waste pickers. Importantly, findings suggest that municipal waste sites
should be situated in terms of historical and present-day processes, that waste must be
conceptualized as a finite resource to be fought for, and that waste pickers experience
tension and conflict on account of internal and external spatially-defined factors.