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

I takt med en växande befolkning i världen ökar också mängden avfall. Avfallsplockare, “waste pickers”, är människor som tjänar sitt levebröd genom att samla på återvinningsbart avfall. I många utvecklingsländer spelar den här gruppen av människor en viktig roll för avfallshanteringen, men avfallsplockare finns även i Sverige. De kan ses rota i papperskorgar efter PET- flaskor och aluminiumburkar med loggan “PANTA”. Syftet med det här arbetet var att undersöka motiv och förutsättningar för avfallsplockare i Stockholm samt vilka utmaningar de ställs inför under det dagliga arbetet. Metoden gick ut på att först studera relevanta vetenskapliga artiklar om avfallsplockning, främst i andra länder där det bedrivits forskning om ämnet. Därefter genomfördes en intervjustudie med 21 stycken avfallsplockare i Stockholm med olika ursprung. Respondenterna representerade 8 olika länder.  Resultatet påvisar att avfallsplockare i Stockholm generellt är mycket fattiga och samlar på avfall i första hand för att få ersättning och inte ur miljösynpunkt. I studien är män starkt dominerande och motsvarar 85 % av respondenterna. Hur mycket en avfallsplockare tjänar under en arbetsdag varierar kraftigt från person till person. Resultatet visar också, med litteratur som underlag, att vardagen för de här människorna är tuff och att arbetet är fysiskt påfrestande för kroppen. Dessutom råder det en hög konkurrens, det är många som samlar på avfall av värde, vilket gör arbetet än mindre lukrativt. Vår studie indikerar på att avfallsplockare bidrar till en bättre miljö och är med och påverkar kretsloppet i en cirkulär ekonomi, men det behöver göras mer forskning på det här området i Sverige. / As the world's population grows, so does the amount of waste. Waste pickers are people who earn their living by collecting recyclable waste. In many developing countries, this group of people plays an important role in the waste management, but waste pickers can also be found in Sweden. They can be seen scavenging in waste bins after PET-bottles and aluminum cans with the logo "PANTA". The purpose of this thesis was to investigate motives and conditions for waste pickers in Stockholm and what challenges they face during their daily work. The method consisted of first studying relevant scientific articles on waste collection, mainly in other countries where research on the subject has been conducted. Subsequently, an interview study was carried out with 21 waste pickers in Stockholm with different origins. The respondents represented 8 different countries.  The results show that waste pickers in Stockholm are generally very poor and collect waste primarily to receive financial compensation and not from an environmental point of view. In the study, men are strongly dominant and correspond to 85% of the respondents. How much a waste picker earns during a working day varies greatly from person to person. The results also show, with literature as a basis, that the everyday life for these people is tough and that the work is physically strenuous for the body. In addition, the competition is high, there are many people who collect waste of value, which makes the work even less lucrative. Our study indicates that waste pickers contribute to a better environment and help to influence the cycle in a circular economy, but more research needs to be conducted in this area in Sweden.

Waste management is a global phenomenon and a challenge to all nations. There is a need to ensure that waste is handled in an environmental friendly and healthy manner. The high rate of unemployment in South Africa leads to elevated poverty, which is one of the most serious socio-economic problems in developing countries. This leads to people opting to work anywhere, particularly in the informal sector for survival. Waste picking is classified as a type of informal employment. In South Africa, the last stage in the life cycle of waste disposal is at the landfill sites. Landfill sites are normally located on the outskirts of towns and away from communities for safety and health reasons. This study researched the working conditions and health status of waste pickers working at some landfill sites in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, namely Ga-Rankuwa, Onderstepoort and Hatherly. The study used a multi method approach, where both qualitative and quantitative factors of research were utilized. Data was gathered through survey questionnaire with a sample of 176 waste pickers at three landfill sites, together with unstructured interviews with municipal workers. The researcher also observed how waste pickers work at the landfill sites. Some of the findings of this study are that: • About 66 % of waste pickers at the landfill sites were females with an average age of 45 years. • A majority (93 %) of waste pickers did not reach matric and were not employable in the formal sector • Most waste pickers (53%) work 5 days and a few (41%) work 6 days per week. • Only 22% of participants reported injury at work and 41% consulted the clinic or hospital due to injury or illness. Descriptive statistical results of the study revealed that waste pickers view their health to be fair as compared to their peers but were not satisfied with their working conditions. Waste pickers are aware of stigma including health challenges associated with working at a landfill site and the need of acting appropriately in protecting themselves / Department of Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

Au cours de ces dernières années, les Déchets Solides Municipaux (DSM) se sont révélés comme une problématique environnementale et économique majeure dans tous les pays. Les quantités collectées et les dépenses publiques nécessaires à leurs gestions croissent de façon insoutenable et ce, particulièrement dans les pays en développement (y compris ceux en transition). Face à ce constat, notre thèse a pour objectif de proposer des éléments de compréhension ainsi que des recommandations pour les politiques publiques. Pour cela, nous avons combiné une approche macroéconomique, pour étudier les liens entre la quantité de DSM et la croissance économique, à une approche microéconomique centrée sur la question du financement par une taxe incitative. Les contributions de cette thèse sont de trois ordres et ont pour référence les pays méditerranéens. La première contribution a consisté à tester la viabilité de l’hypothèse de la Courbe Environnementale de Kuznets (CEK) dans un contexte d’ouverture au commerce international. Cette première approche a permis de déceler une relation monotone croissante entre l’intensité de la production des DSM et la croissance économique sur la période 1990-2010 et ce, quel que soit le niveau de revenu des pays. Ce qui nous conduit à la conclusion d’une incompatibilité entre les objectifs de croissance et de prévention de la production des DSM. La deuxième contribution a été l’occasion de considérer, dans un modèle théorique, le recyclage informel qui est une caractéristique commune au pays en développement. L’objectif de cette contribution a été d’une part d’analyser l’impact du recyclage informel sur l’efficacité d’une politique de taxation incitative et d’autre part, de déterminer les conditions optimales d’une telle politique en présence du recyclage informel. En étudiant l’efficacité d’une politique de taxation directe de type tarification à l’acte et d’une politique de taxation indirecte de type Deposit and Refund System (DRS), nous montrons que la présence du recyclage informel ne permet pas de faire coïncider optimum social et équilibre du marché. Cependant, la politique DRS peut être optimale, à condition de subventionner à la fois le recyclage formel et informel. Enfin, la troisième contribution est une étude économétrique des impacts du système de taxation incitative d’un pays riche méditerranéen. Cette étude vient du constat selon lequel les pays riches, contrairement aux pays en développement, mettent en œuvre plusieurs taxes incitatives de façon concomitante. Nous évaluons l’efficacité du système de taxation de la France, qui avec ses trois taxes incitatives est un cas d’école en la matière. Nous proposons dans cette contribution, à l’aide de tests économétriques sur données départementales, une mesure de l’élasticité de la quantité de DSM collectés, valorisés et éliminés par rapport à la Redevance sur l’Enlèvement des Ordures Ménagères (REOM), la Responsabilité Élargie du Producteur (REP) et la Taxe Générales sur les Activités Polluantes (TGAP). Les résultats montrent une complémentarité des trois taxes avec une supériorité de la REOM pour inciter les ménages à la prévention et à la valorisation, et une supériorité de la REP pour inciter les collectivités locales à la substitution des technologies d’élimination à celles de valorisation / In last decades, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has become a major environmental and economic problem in many countries. The quantity of MSW collected and the expenditures necessary for its management have rapidly increased, particularly in developing countries (including those in transition). Our thesis aims to shed light on the relationship between MSW collection and economic growth and to propose how public policy can sustainably manage this pollution. To attempt our objective, we combined a macro and micro economic approaches in theoretical and empirical studies. The contributions of this thesis are threefold and have the scope of Mediterranean countries. First, we complete the empirical literature on the validation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC) by studying the relationship between MSW collected and the economic growth over the period 1990-2010. The main added value of this study is the use of multiple imputations methodology to control for the sample bias due to missing values. We find out that MSW collected monotonically increase with income whatever countries’ income level. This leads us to conclude that the economic growth and MSW prevention are not compatible. So in a second contribution, we investigate, in a theoretical model, the efficiency of using market-based incentives to reach to objective of waste prevention and diversion from disposal in developing countries. We consider the common phenomenon of waste picking in these countries and we analyze the conditions in which a policy of Deposit and Refund System (DRS) can help to achieve the first best optimum. We first analyze the impact of waste picking on the effectiveness of the user fee and the DRS, then we show that social optimum and market equilibrium can be hold by taxing consumer goods and by subsidizing both formal recycling and waste picking. Our third contribution in this thesis is an econometric evaluation of French MSW taxing system in order to test the hypothesis of the complementarity of direct and indirect MSW incentive taxes in developed countries, which implement simultaneously several incentives taxes. Using data aggregate at French administrative departments level, we assess the prevention and substitution effects of the three incentive taxes namely the French user fee (La Redevance d’Enlèvement des Ordures Ménagères), the Extended Producer responsibility and disposal tax levied at landfill and incineration (la Taxe Générale sur les Activités Polluantes). We confirm the complementarity hypothesis of these taxes.

The world is facing a global waste crisis due to half of the waste produced not being collected, treated or safely disposed of. Waste not managed in a proper way causes air and water pollution and has negative health and social impacts on people living or working close to the waste. Alt- hough evidence shows that implementing gender approaches improves environmental issues, and the majority of waste pickers are women, few organisations focused on waste management are implementing gender mainstreaming into their work. This case study examines gender main- streaming within the organisation Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) in relation to environmental issues. WIEGO is an international organisation working to increase the voice, visibility and validity of the working poor, with a special emphasis on women, with a core project that supports cooperative waste picker women in Brazil. The study was conducted through two interviews on local and international level and the analysis of 20 documents describing WIEGO and its work. The theories and concepts of gender mainstreaming, intersectionality, Feminist Political Ecology and Environmental Justice were used to analyse the results. The study showed that WIEGO was implementing gender mainstreaming in their opera- tive work, in the policy framework and in the waste picker projects in Brazil which has resulted in physical and emotional improvements for WIEGO employees internationally and waste pick- ers in Brazil. <<< / Världen står inför en global avfallshanteringskris där hälften av allt avfall som produceras inte insamlas, hanteras eller kasseras på ett säkert sätt. Avfall som inte hanteras säkert skapar luft- och vattenföroreningar och har negativa hälsosamma och sociala effekter för människor som lever eller arbetar nära avfallet. Trots att forskning visar att genusperspektiv förbättrar miljö- problem, och att majoriteten av avfallshanterare är kvinnor, fokuserar få organisationer som hanterar avfall på ”gender mainstreaming” i sitt arbete. Denna fallstudie undersöker ”gender mainstreaming” i organisationen Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) i relation till miljöproblem. WIEGO är en internationell organisation som arbetar med att öka inflytandet, synligheten och validiteten hos fattiga arbetande, med ett särskilt fokus på kvinnor, med ett kärnprogram som stöttar kooperativ av avfallshanterande kvinnor i Brasi- lien. Studien genomfördes med två intervjuer på lokal och internationell nivå och analys av 20 dokument som beskriver WIEGO och dess arbete. Teorierna och koncepten ”gender mainstrea- ming”, intersektionalitet, Feministisk Politisk Ekologi och miljörättvisa användes för att analy- sera resultaten. Studien visar att WIEGO använder sig av ”gender mainstreaming” i sitt opera- tiva arbete, i sitt policyramverk och i avfallshanteringsprojekten i Brasilien, vilket resulterat it fysiska och emotionella förbättringar för WIEGOs internationellt anställda och för de avfalls- hanterande kvinnorna i Brasilien.