This dissertation investigates informal waste recycling practices in the modern urban centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina. My research sets a baseline for the living and working conditions of the approximately 9,000 informal recyclers (cartoneros) in the city, focusing on their health, socio-economic status, and access to social and material resources. The research methods included a survey (n = 397) and interviews (n = 30) with cartoneros, as well as key informant interviews and an analysis of newspaper articles addressing informal recycling in the city. My findings indicate that Buenos Aires’ cartoneros, while not the poorest of the poor, are of a relatively low socio-economic status. Their health outcomes and determinants of health are poor compared to others in the Greater Buenos Aires region, and these workers are often stigmatized and discriminated against because of their associations with waste. Cartoneros’ experiences of the city are characterized by a series of social, political, and physical exclusions, revealing a state of urban inequality in Buenos Aires. I argue that municipal agendas of neoliberal urban development are implicated in both the symbolic and physical marginalization of these workers. Cartoneros draw upon many resources in coping with the multiple vulnerabilities that they face (particularly social resources and assets derived from their labour). They also occasionally engage with urban processes of exclusion through collective action and rhetorical redefinitions of their role in society. These workers are therefore active agents in their own destinies, and potential actors for social change. The municipal government of Buenos Aires has recently implemented a formalization plan for some of the city’s cartoneros; the dissertation includes an assessment of these plans, as well as recommendations for other policy-based interventions to informal recycling practices.

Magister Artium - MA / The local economy of the City of Cape Town supported by formal economic activities that are carried out through modern production processes whose existence is officially recognized and benefits from the protection of the authorities, and the informal activities that exist outside official control and protection systems. There is a dynamic connection between actors in the formal sector and those in the informal sector, which is seen at the levels of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. This research investigates the linkages between informal and formal resource recovery activities in Devon Valley Landfill Site in Stellenbosch and Bellville South Landfill Site in Bellville. The two landfill sites are at the margins on the city economy where the formal and informal sectors interact and at times collide. Notwithstanding the negative health effects associated with the informal waste collections and the fact that informal waste collectors are neglected by policy makers in many developing countries in general and in South Africa in particular, evidence from Southern Africa has shown that the informal sector fosters considerable social, environmental and economic benefits that should be preserved. Informal recyclers constitute the essential workforce of the recycling business. These recyclers have undertaken various commercial and environmental tasks as a survival strategy long before the state and private entities became interested in participating in this profitable business. Waste recycling in most developing countries is a response to the inability of the formal economy to absorb a growing urban population, and the value placed on recyclable materials in the globalized economy. The study explores the various linkages between the informal sector and formal sector in the recycling industry and it examines the activities of these people involved in informal sector activities at the bottom end of the commonly neglected waste recycling chain. It also examines how waste pickers have developed livelihoods based on resource recovery activities at Devon Valley Landfill Site and Bellville South Landfill Site. This thesis is the result of an extensive literature review and primary data collection using a mixed methods approach. Primary sources of information consulted include, waste pickers, dealers, buy-back centres and manufacturing companies. This thesis attempts to establish the respective correlation between urban poverty, informal waste collection, and the recycling industries. The findings reveal that informal recycling is intricately linked to the formal recycling sector with waste pickers selling their waste to merchants and recyclers.

This dissertation investigates informal waste recycling practices in the modern urban centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina. My research sets a baseline for the living and working conditions of the approximately 9,000 informal recyclers (cartoneros) in the city, focusing on their health, socio-economic status, and access to social and material resources. The research methods included a survey (n = 397) and interviews (n = 30) with cartoneros, as well as key informant interviews and an analysis of newspaper articles addressing informal recycling in the city. My findings indicate that Buenos Aires’ cartoneros, while not the poorest of the poor, are of a relatively low socio-economic status. Their health outcomes and determinants of health are poor compared to others in the Greater Buenos Aires region, and these workers are often stigmatized and discriminated against because of their associations with waste. Cartoneros’ experiences of the city are characterized by a series of social, political, and physical exclusions, revealing a state of urban inequality in Buenos Aires. I argue that municipal agendas of neoliberal urban development are implicated in both the symbolic and physical marginalization of these workers. Cartoneros draw upon many resources in coping with the multiple vulnerabilities that they face (particularly social resources and assets derived from their labour). They also occasionally engage with urban processes of exclusion through collective action and rhetorical redefinitions of their role in society. These workers are therefore active agents in their own destinies, and potential actors for social change. The municipal government of Buenos Aires has recently implemented a formalization plan for some of the city’s cartoneros; the dissertation includes an assessment of these plans, as well as recommendations for other policy-based interventions to informal recycling practices.

Due to the general unawareness of the existence and significance of the informal recycling sector in the global north, leading to a great deal of exclusion and stigmatization, this thesis seeks to investigate waste governance in Vancouver and the level of participation of the informal recycling sector in municipal waste management. It also documents the critical role of grassroots innovations in promoting participatory governance and the challenges faced in the process. Results show that the informal recycling sector (binners) play a significant role in municipal waste management, and that there exists some level of participation in decision-making on waste management issues. Results also indicate that exclusion of binners in certain decision-making processes such as the City’s recycling bylaw led to challenges such as reduced access to recyclable materials, which threatens binners’ day-to-day activity and survival. Furthermore, the current level of participation of binners can be linked to the influence of a grassroots innovation called the Binners’ Project, which has at its core, empowerment and capacity building of its members. Challenges faced by this organization as well as binners, in general, are also documented. This thesis concludes with recommendations to promote transformative participatory waste governance and highlights strategies to ensure the sustenance of binners’ livelihoods. / Graduate

Globally, hundreds of thousands of people subsist by informally collecting, sorting, and selling materials recovered from disposed solid waste. For most individuals this informal activity is precarious and prone to job insecurity, stigmatization, exploitation, physical danger, and emotional distress. In order to understand how informal recyclers perceive their health and hazards, data were collected over a six-month period in 2010, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through a political ecology framework, the authors relate the systemic and exploitative structures that continue to negatively influence the health of the recyclers. The authors demonstrate that independent informal recyclers face a number of multifaceted health implications that are directly related to the unregulated and undervalued collection of solid waste. Recyclers are either uninformed or indifferent about policy interventions, such as accessing free personal protective equipment. The article concludes by suggesting specific measures supported by the academic literature on inclusive waste management and social networks, advocating an emphasis on cooperativism as a means of creating a space for workplace health promotion and access to resources. / Graduate

The aim of this thesis was to study governance aspects of informal electronic waste recycling and to provide better knowledge of the business in terms of structure, stakeholders, governance aspects and social impacts. The thesis consists of a cover essay and two papers appended at the end of the thesis. The cover essay summarizes the papers and puts them in context. The objective of Paper I is to study the business of informal electronic waste recycling in Pakistan and highlight its governance issues. Paper II assesses the social impacts of this business using UNEP-SETAC Guidelines. The thesis examines these specific questions: Q1) What is the current situation of informal e-waste recycling in Pakistan? Q2) Who are the important stakeholders and what are their roles in this business? Q3) What are the governance issues enabling this informal business? Q4) What are the social impacts for individuals and society arising from this business? Paper I presents the international and local e-waste flows, business structure, the stakeholders involved and the existing governance issues of the business. It shows weak enforcement of legislation, the complexities emerging with numerous stakeholders, the profitability of informal recycling, little concern for the health damaging exposure for workers from poorest and most vulnerable people in society, and the lack of awareness of the hazards involved results in several governance issues. The paper also highlights how this business lacks characteristics of good governance, which makes it a challenge to control this business. Paper II assesses the social impacts of informal e-waste recycling in Pakistan using UNEP/SETAC guidelines for conducting a Social Lifecycle Analysis (SLCA). It showed that this business has positive impacts relating to societal issues and individual/family economics, and in the economic development of Pakistan but otherwise most impacts were negative. The findings of Paper II fill an important data gap and can be integrated with data on other stages of ICT product lifecycle to produce a full SLCA of such products. / Syftet med denna avhandling var att studera styrningsaspekter informella återvinning elektroniskt avfall och för att ge bättre kunskap om verksamheten i fråga om struktur, intressenter, styrningsaspekter och sociala konsekvenser. Avhandlingen består av en täck uppsats och två tidningar bifogade i slutet av uppsatsen. Locket uppsats samman tidningarna och sätter dem i sitt sammanhang. Syftet med papper I är att studera verksamheten i informella återvinning elektroniskt avfall i Pakistan och belysa dess styrningsfrågor. Papper II bedömer de sociala konsekvenserna av denna verksamhet med hjälp av UNEP-SETAC riktlinjer. Avhandlingen undersöker dessa specifika frågor: Q1) Vad är den nuvarande situationen för informella återvinnings e-avfall i Pakistan? Q2) Vilka är de viktigaste intressenterna och vilka är deras roller i den här branschen? Q3) Vilka styrningsfrågor som möjliggör denna informella företag? Q4) Vilka är de sociala konsekvenserna för enskilda och samhället som följer av detta företag? Papper I presenterar internationella och lokala e-avfallsflöden, företagsstruktur, de inblandade aktörerna och de befintliga styrningsfrågor i verksamheten. Det visar en svag tillämpning av lagstiftningen, komplexiteten växande med många intressenter, lönsamheten för informella återvinning, lite oro för hälsan skadliga exponering för arbetstagare från de fattigaste och mest utsatta människorna i samhället, och bristen på medvetenhet om de risker inblandade resultaten i flera styrningsfrågor. Papperet belyser också hur denna verksamhet saknar egenskaper för god förvaltning, vilket gör det till en utmaning att styra denna verksamhet. Papper II bedömer de sociala konsekvenserna av informella återvinnings e-avfall i Pakistan använder UNEP / SETAC riktlinjer för att genomföra en social livscykelanalys (SLCA). Det visade sig att denna verksamhet har positiva effekter avseende samhällsfrågor och individ / familj ekonomi, och i den ekonomiska utvecklingen i Pakistan men annars de flesta effekterna var negativa. Resultaten av pappers II fyller ett viktigt tomrum uppgifter och kan integreras med uppgifter om andra stadier av IKT produktlivscykeln för att producera en full SLCA av sådana produkter. / <p>QC 20150525</p>

The city of Xalapa, like many Mexican cities, does not count with any sort of official recycling program. Resource recovery relies on the work performed by the informal recycling sector and often, such work is neglected by the local government. In line with this, the aim of this study is to evaluate if a participatory resource management is a more suitable option than the current approach; so that the informal recycling sector can be included into the formal waste management system. In order to do so, this study employed a case study method using qualitative data; during the month of field work in Xalapa, semi- structured interviews and observation were the techniques used for collecting data. Concepts such as informal economy, participatory resource management, network theory and waste management were employed to analyze the organization and operation of the formal and informal waste management systems. Drawn from the results and analysis, it was presented that the informal recycling sector in Xalapa is composed of 5 different types of actors. Some of these actors are organized, while others work independently. The study revealed that their income is related to their capability of accessing to infrastructure and resources. This access to infrastructure and resources takes the form of a secondary materials trade hierarchy where the income of an actor depends on their ability to add value to their recovered materials. Additionally, organized actors tend to be less prone to manipulation and exploitation. Furthermore, it was deemed relevant to look at the current policies and regulations as well as to the action plans proposed by the local government for alleviating the solid waste crisis in Xalapa. It was identified that to consider a participatory resource management approach, several barriers need to be overcome; these barriers lie within the governance and social spectrum. However, despite the identified barriers, the current waste management system has opportunities for creating a more inclusive and socially just municipal solid waste management system.

Why do some people in Halifax, Nova Scotia work collecting recyclables rather than in other—more formal—means of employment? Some scholars argue that informal economic activity is the product of a shift towards flexible work regimes and reductions to the social welfare system (the informalization thesis) and/or that increasingly marginalized people are forced into informal economic activities by economic necessity (the marginalization thesis). Drawing on a close analysis of provincial and municipal recycling policies and ethnographic fieldwork with informal recyclers, I argue that the informalization and marginalization theses are based on overly deterministic models of informal employment. Demand for informal recycling in Halifax is supported by a complex raft of environmental legislation designed to increase the rate of recycling. People willingly choose informal recycling as an alternative to formal employment for various reasons, but above all because it offers a tax-free, honest living, autonomy and a decent income.

End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) can act as a source of secondary raw materials at the same time can pose a severe threat to our ecosystem if the ELVs are handled unscientifically. Globally, abundant research is being carried out on obsolete vehicles to harness energy and to reduce negative impacts on the environment. India, characterized by an informal ELV handling sector has achieved material recovery and recycling efficiency up to some extent but lacks in the incorporation of eco-friendly management of ELVs, and this issue needs to be addressed along with the problems of social and economic sustainability of the firm. The research work is intended to study the prevailing status of ELV handling in India. The current situation is represented by comparing ELV handling capacities of various firms and future ELVs. Also, an assessment of shared responsibility of critical stakeholders is depicted using a radar chart, and relative importance of their involvement is represented. Research also presents a comparative study of ELV legislative policies of different countries. Linear regression is applied to predict the values of ELVs in major Indian cities. Suitable methodologies are employed to collect the required data, and the findings are discussed using illustrative graphs and tables.