Informal sector and recycling – global experiences Key steps towards effective inclusion in 21 st century SWM systems Conferencia ISWA Beacon sobre Minimización y Reciclado de Residuos ISWA Beacon Conference on Waste Prevention and Recycling 21-22 June - Buenos Aires, Argentina Costas Velis, David C Wilson Environmental and Water Resource Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Imperial College London ISWA Globalization and Waste Management Task Force
Key steps towards effective inclusion in 21st century
Key themes • Informal recycling: a reality in (environmentally) developing countries • Western-world recycling modes: an evolving selection of options • Evidence on key aspects of informal recycling (financial - mainly, environmental, societal) • IR phenomenon as a systems cross-section: material flows for production, waste management and poverty alleviation • Possibilities for win-win solutions by inclusion / integration? • Key challenges to be addressed • Need for systemic view and high-level evaluation and interpretation of accumulating evidence on interventions
Example of financial contribution - Mumbai Cross-subsidy - from poor to rich • This budget to deals with ~ 75-80% of the waste generated • ~20-25% of the waste is collected & recycled by informal sector • Informal sector is saving city ~ US$100 million/year in avoided collection & disposal costs Budget of SWM Department 2009/10 US$228 million 2010/11 US$334 million (estimate) Source: Perinaz Bhada-Tata, Waste Management World, September – October 2010
A detailed study which documents the financial contribution of the informal sector to SWM in 6 cities is available: Scheinberg, Simpson M.H. and Gupt Y. (2010). Economic Aspects of the Informal Sector in Solid Waste. German Technical Cooperation (GTZ, re-named GIZ in 2011), Eschborn, Germany. www.giz.de Source: Ranjith Annepu, http://swmindia.blogspot.com/ ISWA Beacon Conference Waste Prevention and Recycling Buenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Contribution of community / informal sector • Systems entirely private sector – financed only from sale of recyclates • Modern recycling systems have been rebuilt by municipalities as ‘sinks’ – cost them money but cheaper than landfill or waste-to- energy • Reduce public sector costs – by millions of $/year in a large city • Professional waste workers in the community / informal sector are just one partner group, but they are often not recognised as such by the municipality
• Build recycling rates • Save the city money • Availability of secondary raw materials for industry • Move towards zero waste • Improve livelihoods • Sustain employment • Improve working conditions Major opportunity for win-win solutions through partnership Itinerant waste buyer
Integrating the community / informal sector into sustainable WM • Secure livelihoods Find new niches, e.g. in separate collection and recycling Assure access at transfer stations (and/or landfill sites?) Increase market leverage –e.g. co - operatives, diversification • Open channels of communication with the city • Address social and health & safety issues
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Informal sector and recycling – global experiencesKey steps towards effective inclusion in 21st century SWM systems
Conferencia ISWA Beacon sobre Minimización y Reciclado de ResiduosISWA Beacon Conference on Waste Prevention and Recycling
21-22 June - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Costas Velis, David C WilsonEnvironmental and Water Resource EngineeringDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Imperial College LondonISWA Globalization and Waste Management Task Force
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Who do I thank DCW PPP heavily based on his previous work- enriched with mine (but me responsible for what you have heard here tonight) My 2 hats: ICL and ISWA GWM TF Hope to give you a new, refreshing perspective to a controversial, but in any case, extremely important issue
Diverse approaches to separate collection for recycling
Kerbside sort in RotterdamBring bins in
Varna, BulgariaExchanging recyclables for
onions Siddhipur, Nepal
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Add photo of London if found on internet with cardboardson hte kebrbside and low-teck no compaction vehicled for co-mingled dry recyclates
Key themes
• Informal recycling: a reality in (environmentally) developing countries
• Western-world recycling modes: an evolving selection of options• Evidence on key aspects of informal recycling (financial - mainly,
environmental, societal)• IR phenomenon as a systems cross-section: material flows for
production, waste management and poverty alleviation• Possibilities for win-win solutions by inclusion / integration?• Key challenges to be addressed • Need for systemic view and high-level evaluation and
interpretation of accumulating evidence on interventions• ISWA GWM TF Workshop
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Curepipe, Mauritius Adelaide, AustraliaBicycle cart delivering to small
transfer station in Kunming
CBO collection in Bamako, Mali
Does modernisation necessarily mean motorisation and compaction?
How many professional waste workers in the community / informal sector?
City % of total population
Bengaluru 0.5Belo Horizonte <0.05
Canete 0.4Delhi 1.3
Dhaka 1.7Ghorahi 0.1Lusaka <0.05
Managua 0.3Quezon City 0.5
Sousse 0.1Average 0.5
Total workers in 10 cities 350,000
Table data source: Scheinberg A., Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. Published for UN- Habitat by Earthscan, London
Global estimate: ~ 15 million
Source: 2010 World Congress of Waste Pickers
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
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Evidence please!! The average corrects the long circulated possible overestimate(?) value of 2% Dr Martin Medina’s estimate
Recycling rates: formal vs. informal
Income Level
Average%
Formal%
Informal%
High 54 54 0
Upper- middle 15 1 15
Lower- middle 27 11 16
Low 27 1 26
Data source: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010). Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. Published for UN-Habitat by Earthscan, London
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Only in the highest income cities IS does not play a key role in recycling Upper middle absence of formall – possibly due to small statistical sample (not representative?) And yes, the high income level achieved higher recycling rated (but at what cost)
Data source: Scheinberg A, Wilson D.C. and Rodic L. (2010).
• Affordability is a key issue in the lower income countries • Fees < 1-2% of household income• * Data only available for 3 of the 6 low-income cities (for 16 out of 20 cities in total)
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Presenter
Presentation Notes
What about externalities (environmental – social -0 pubic health?)
Example of financial contribution - Mumbai
Cross-subsidy - from poor to rich• This budget to deals with ~ 75-80%
of the waste generated• ~20-25% of the waste is collected &
recycled by informal sector• Informal sector is saving city ~
US$100 million/year in avoided collection & disposal costs
Budget of SWM Department2009/10 US$228 million2010/11 US$334 million
(estimate)
Source: Perinaz Bhada-Tata, Waste Management World, September – October 2010
A detailed study which documents the financial contribution of the informal sector to SWM in 6 cities is available: Scheinberg, Simpson M.H. and Gupt Y. (2010). Economic Aspects of the Informal Sector in Solid Waste. German Technical Cooperation (GTZ, re-named GIZ in 2011), Eschborn, Germany. www.giz.de
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Could modern-western system recycle the same or more? – Yes, it definitely can – at what cost thought (affordability issue- have a slide available just incase)
• Systems entirely private sector – financed only from sale of recyclates
• Modern recycling systems have been rebuilt by municipalities as ‘sinks’ – cost them money but cheaper than landfill or waste-to- energy
• Reduce public sector costs – by millions of $/year in a large city
• Professional waste workers in the community / informal sector are just one partner group, but they are often not recognised as such by the municipality Port Harcourt, 2006 (Photo: Kaine Chinwah, IC)
Istanbul, 1993 (Photo: DCW)
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
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Top photo: Recyclables on a dump site in Istanbul, June 1993. Bottom photo: Sorted bottles ready to be packaged by middleman, Port Harcourt
A waste management and material chain flow system
Both formal and informal actors are parts of 2 key entangled systems:
1. Waste management
2. Secondary raw materials production and use
Diagram credit: Velis C and
Wang H, 2010
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
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Waste to resource management – what do we mean? The ctivities of t inforam recyclers ultimately depend on the downstream needs and financial attractiveness of the
• Build recycling rates• Save the city money• Availability of secondary raw
materials for industry• Move towards zero waste• Improve livelihoods• Sustain employment• Improve working conditions
Major opportunity for win-win solutions through partnership
Itinerant waste buyer in Brazil
Sorting recycled plastics in Delhi
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Integrating the community / informal sector into sustainable WM
• Secure livelihoodsFind new niches, e.g. in separate collection
and recyclingAssure access at transfer stations (and/or
landfill sites?)Increase market leverage – e.g. co -
operatives, diversification• Open channels of communication with the city• Address social and health & safety issues
Photos: Bhushan Tuladhar, Martin Medina
Itinerant waste buyer in Nepal
Recycling co-operative in Colombia
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
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Presentation Notes
Top photo: A scavenger co-operative in Colombia collecting source-separated materials using horsecart . Source:Scavenging and Integrated Biosystems: Some Past and Present Examples, Martin Medina. In Integrated Bio-Systems in Zero Emissions Applications, Proceedings of the Internet Conference on Integrated Bio-Systems, Editors: Eng-Leong Foo & Tarcisio Della Senta. 1998. http://www.ias.unu.edu/proceedings/icibs Bottom photo: Pakistan, July 2007. Itinerant waste buyer with a four wheel cart is in a medium town of Pakistan – Sukkur. (Repeat photo)
Does it ever really work?
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Year Total IWBs1997 6% 4%2006 25% 16%2009 37% 24%
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Case 1: Quezon City, Philippines: NGO-led ‘Linis Ganda’• Sharp increase in recycling• Linkages across supply chain• Recognition & respectability, uniforms, ID, access• Politically connected, Organised in co-operatives• Facilitate affordable credit
Brazil: Profession recognition
Recycling facility of one of the waste picker cooperatives in Belo Horizonte
Unsold food from shops which would otherwise be discarded as waste, being sorted prior to distribution to some 15 000 people registered with the social inclusion food bank in Belo Horizonte
Will not dwell as it will be covered in detail (international and Latin America cases) by my colleagues after me DcW: FYI, the %s here for Metro Manila in each year are by coincidence almost identical to the averages for recycling in England in the same years
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
The way forward - loads of challenges, for many stakeholders
• Often appalling working conditions (child labour occupational H&S risks, sorting at home, sorting WEEE, burning waste, sorting on dumpsites, etc.)
• Public health risks (e.g. re-use of syringes)• Unsightly – aesthetically incompatible with 21st century SWM• Black market: non-taxed activities – financial exploitation by material dealers(?)• Political repression, neglectance, collusion, lack of role and job recognition• Social exclusion (?) – poverty (e.g. slums on dumpsites) – access to services• Criminality (gangs formation and fighting over access to material)• Littering / dumping / obstructing formal sector activities (e.g. landfill working front)• Collection focus depends upon volatile secondary raw material market prices• Lack of co-operation with authorities, lack of organisation that could allow
accountability, legal and environmental control• Intervention / inclusion / absorption supportive attempts failing due to lack of
system understanding (primarily a waste/material flow issue not a means to social engineering)
• Interventions financially unsustainable and lacking in capacity building• Financial externalities (material flows, greenhouse gas emissions, H&S)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
And here expressing own private views Focus on some unclear, misunderstood, neglected aspects (in red)
‘Working conditions are unacceptable’ - ‘risk to public health’
• Yes, but why are their working conditions so dirty?• Most sorting is in mixed waste• (Hand sorting with suitable PPE is not uncommon in high income countries)• Key: access to materials under controlled safe hygienic conditions• Key: separate organics from dry recyclables at source• At a stroke, improve working conditions for the recyclers AND provide the
foundation for ‘zero waste’ to landfill• Separation at source already takes place – itinerant waste buyers (IWBs)
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ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Issue with collection of fees in the low income countries Kyoto CDM: applies to landfill gas and then centralised composting but difficult) too beurocratic for informal / community sector
Good governance & partnerships: key to success
Partnerships underpin all the UN-Habitat (SWM in world’s
cities)governance factors
Municipalities cannot solve the SWM problem alone
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Key to successful implementation of any improvement plan to SWM UN-habitat work established/proposed a series of good governance indicators
Need robust evidence base for decision-makingNeed reliable and timely data
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
• Globalisation and Waste Management (GWM) ISWA Task Force
• 1st deliverable out of 5 is on informal recycling sector• Consolidate evidence from existing inclusion/integration interventions• MSc thesis - Imperial College London (Ms Ondina Rocca)• International Expert Workshop (Buenos Aires 22-23 June 2011)
• Terminology: alternatives to “informal sector”• Vision: Inclusion / integration / absorption• Important and/or typical case studies on ‘integration’ attempts• Intervention / self-organisation typology• Success / failure – constraints and facilitating factors• Template for typical intervention case studies presentation• Decision making framework – good practice guide: useful existing
approaches - propose new ways to frame the choices
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Systematic approach to inclusion/integration solutions
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Workshop agenda / ISWA GWM TF Thank ARS for hosting us
A w/p case: how should we refer to the ‘informal’ sector?
• Recognising that language forms perceptions and reflects stances
• Development agencies do not like the ‘informal sector’ – synonymous with the ‘black economy’ – tax revenues are necessary for good governance
• The ‘informal’ sector in WM need not be outside the formal economy – e.g. Brazil
• But they do not want to be ‘formalised’ in the sense of being ‘absorbed’ – separate stakeholder group
• I have used here : ‘community/ informal sector’• What term should we be using? Would another term
make recognition and integration easier?
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
The community sector (CBOs) in SWM in high income countries
• Surprisingly large and active
• Often focus on reuse
• ...but also recycling and
community composting
• Complain that they are not
recognised as equal
partners by LAs and the
formal private sector
Photos: Matthew Thompson, LCRN
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
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Presentation Notes
Transition to next slide: now this brings us again to things that are there but we may fail to notice – not No one size fits all
Curepipe, Mauritius Adelaide, AustraliaBicycle cart delivering to small
transfer station in Kunming
CBO collection in Bamako, Mali
Modernisation does not necessarily mean motorisationMotorisation does not mean compaction (London’s example!!)
Key modernisation feature: separate, effective at source collection
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Explain that a World-leading on EfW company (Veolia) is implementing relatively low-tech waste collection of comingled dry recyclables in London – why? It is fit-for purpose.... “from my window in a gross south London neibourhood”...
Success factors
• No one size fits all – every city needs to develop its own local and sustainable fit-for-purpose solution
• Technical ambitions may need to be modified to achieve affordability: e.g. a sanitary landfill is worth nothing if it the city can’t afford to run it
• Commitment does more than money: several poor cities with good systems
• Building on what you have works• Including informal activities in formal reporting could
improve a city's outlook
One size does not fit all –
large and small composting
plants in Adelaide and
Canete, Peru
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
ISWA Beacon ConferenceWaste Prevention and RecyclingBuenos Aires 21-22 June 2011
Keep an o Open eye for the results of the workshop and further actions within this delivery area of the ISWM GWM TG Thank BA, ARS, praise importance of their relevant experience with “IRS”, can be leading on global scale Put all event supporters logos here