George TSIVILIS (LDK Consultants) Christos STATHIS (LDK ... · Yanal ABEDA (Al Mostaqbal) MAY 2014 . Structure of Presentation A. Existing Situation B. Informal Waste Picking: Evil

INFORMAL SECTOR INVOLVEMENT

In the context of the project:

“Development of a National Strategy to Improve the Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan” (JO-RLDP), LOAN # 7422-JO)

funded by the Jordanian MoMA/CVDB (EBRD)

George TSIVILIS (LDK Consultants)

Christos STATHIS (LDK Consultants)

Costis NICOLOPOULOS (LDK Consultants)

Yanal ABEDA (Al Mostaqbal)

MAY 2014

Structure of Presentation

A. Existing Situation

B. Informal Waste Picking: Evil to fight or fertile

ground for social policy and local development?

C. Towards an integration policy

D. How to make it happen

E. Our Survey in Jordan

I. Waste picking as a widespread activity in nearly

all cities of developing countries

II. Demographic and Socio-cultural profile of Waste

Pickers

III. Health and Living Conditions of Waste Pickers

IV. Occupational Characteristics, Income, and Job

Satisfaction

V. Organizational Structure and Key Actors


Urbanization

Expansion or creation of new slum areas and

squatter settlements

High immigration rates

Insufficient collection, uncontrolled street

collection points and improper disposal in open

landfills that allow disposed products to be readily

available for informal waste recycling.


A1. Waste picking as a widespread activity in nearly all cities of developing

countries

Gender: both sexes, women > 50%

25% of women are widowed or deserted

Age: all ages, however > 65% belong to the age group 11-

35 years

Education: > 80% illiterate, 20% can write their names and a

marginal few can read and write

Waste pickers: the poorest of the poor

Or among the most socially excluded and discriminated

against populations in urban areas

subject to exploitation and discrimination by middlemen

and by local and federal government policies


A2. Demographic and Socio-cultural profile of Waste Pickers

A3. Health and Living Conditions of Waste Pickers

Hazards facing on the job. Main sources of exposure:

viral infections (faeco-oral, or blood borne), leptospira

dog and rat bites

injuries (cut, pin prick, eyes)

harassment

insecure earnings

no legal protection

no social security

unfair practices by traders


The most prevalent diseases and injuries:

skin problems (75%)

chronic backache (70%)

general weakness (65%)

chronic cough (40%)

jaundice (35%)

skin ulcer (30%)

chest pain and pain abdomen, genital ulcer, gland and bubo, diarrhea, eye infections (15%)

breathing difficulty (10%)



Overall health status of waste pickers:

< 10% immunized against tetanus toxoid

>60% do not remember having taken a single

dose of tetanus vaccine



Residence: in pavement dwellers, or in poor

quality slums, usually on or next to landfills

State of neighborhood:

Poor access to water and sanitation, health clinics,

roads and other infrastructure

70% open fields for defecation, <5% own latrines,

20% access to community latrines

Life expectancy: 35 – 39 years





A4. Occupational Characteristics, Income, and Job Satisfaction

Reasons for doing this work: Economical conditions and

limited employment opportunities

Children occupation: around 30% are < 15 years old

Most have been doing this job for quite a long time, more

than 40% have continued for > 10 years

Full-time job for most of them, <10% part time

Working hours per day: 4 – 6 h or more, depending on

travelling time and waste concentration, often plus 1-2h

spent in sorting out the items before selling

Average earnings: varies widely (10 –20 USD/d) depending upon the amount of efforts put in


A5. Organizational Structure and Key Actors

Locations of collection: a substantial portion of

salvageable components are picked up and

recycled before final disposal, while a large

amount are still available in the disposal ground

Materials: paper, plastic, glass, leather, scrap

metals

Weekly collection = up to 200kgs/person


The “Routes for sale”: Waste pickers – Itinerant buyers / sellers – Middlemen – Industry.

Middlemen:

i) small dealers (buy directly from waste pickers), usually from the locality, with a makeshift structure usually in an unauthorized space (by the side of the road or any other vacant space)

ii) big dealers or wholesalers (buy from small)

Involvement of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and of politicians



Prices Paid for Corrugated Cardboard Along the Recovery Route

Scavenger Sells to

Small Merchant

Small Merchant Sells

to Large

100 - 200 900

1,000 3,000

900 1,100

Large Merchant Sells

to Industry

1,800

5,500

4,000



Reduced municipal solid waste handling costs

The labor that they put into retrieving, collecting,

sorting, dismantling, breaking down, and

sometimes washing, converts the collected

materials into commodities that can be sold as

raw material to manufacturing industries.

Raw material costs for industry are lowered (while

improving competitiveness)

Contribute to national productivity and income

B. Informal Waste Picking: Evil to fight or fertile ground for social policy and local development?

B1. Economic benefits

Recovered materials for recycling

Resources are conserved

Pollution is reduced

Reduction of waste to be disposed – minimization

of environmental effects in landfills


B2. Environmental benefits

Jobs are created

Poverty is reduced

Affordable SWM solutions that create income

opportunities for unskilled workers, particularly the

poor


B3. Social benefits

The informal sector is largely unregulated and

unregistered

Also, it constitutes a very efficient and hard

competitor of legal collection and recovery

systems

In case it is further marginalized or declared

illegal, unemployment and crime will increase

and scavengers may get exploited by corrupt

government officials (e.g. in Mexico City)

The hygienic risk for inhabitants having direct

contact with waste


C1. The sides of the issue

Repression

Neglect

Collusion

Stimulation

Policies that support scavenging


C2. A wide variety of policies that deal with scavengers

The problems could be reduced by the introduction of a complete and formally structured collection service. However, the income of thousands of scavengers would be cut by this measure.

Instead, scavenging can render significant social and economical benefits if incorporated “symbiotically” into the formal waste management system.


C2. A wide variety of policies that deal with scavengers

This incorporation:

a) will improve the efficiency of the formal system

b) will help the implementation of environmental regulations

c) will save energy and water while generating less pollution than the procurement of virgin materials (especially in countries where the formal system has limited capacity)


C3. The need for policies that support scavenging

d) will reduce the required collection and disassembling capacity, and their costs

e) will create jobs for unskilled individuals

f) could bring some control over the scavengers’ operations, aiming to stop illegal dumping by keeping them accountable for their actions and creating incentives to bring the collected end-of-use products to specific places


C3. The need for policies that support scavenging

Not confronted as illegal and punished (such as

in several Colombian, Indian, and Philippine

cities)

Neither as ignored (such as in several African

cities)

collection of recyclable materials constitutes

work and seeks recognition for the workers from

the State and the society


C4. Basic concept

The faceless waste picker causing

nuisance at the municipal container has

become a person who interacts with

fellow residents on an equal footing !


C4. Basic concept

“What is most important is the respect of other people.

Today, when I go to the department to collect my money, the

lady there asks me to sit on a sofa. If she is drinking tea, she

will ask for another cup for me. I can walk into the canteen

and sit at a table and eat, no one even looks at me, I am like

one of the University employees. That is what I value the

most.”


C4. Basic concept

The basics of Model Proposed:

source segregation of waste;

direct collection of source segregated waste

from domestic and small commercial generators

separate collection of non-domestic wastes

(market waste, hotel waste, construction and

demolition waste, garden waste, e-waste);

decentralized waste management; diversion of

waste from landfills into bio-processing

(composting, bio-methanation) and recycling;


C5. Formulate a Strategy


institutionalize the integration of informal waste

pickers by the municipal administration for

materials recovery and processing;

diversion of recyclables into recycling with the

benefit of strengthening of the informal waste

sector;

opportunities for up-skilling and upgrading work

for workers.


C5. Formulate a Strategy


disposal tax on waste creating products and user

fees for waste collection.

photo-identity cards for waste pickers

formation of worker boards of waste pickers and

provision of social security measures

ensure rights to access and sell scrap;


C6. Best practices applied internationally / Lessons learned


Coop members are also trained to handle

mechanical composters and to do manual

composting.

Members also work in bio-methanation plants on

a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis.





Cooperatives : the most successful scheme

a wholly worker-owned cooperative of waste pickers, itinerant waste buyers, waste collectors and other urban poor

The Coop provides front-end waste management services to City, with support from the Municipal Corporation.

NGO: the most successful vehicle

assisting groups of scavengers in other cities to also create cooperatives

awards grants, makes loans for specific coop projects, and provides the coops with legal, administrative and business assistance, as well as free consulting services



Three key objectives:

1. to devise strategies and programs jointly with waste

pickers

2. to provide good daily waste collection services that are

compliant with waste management rules

3. to protect and upgrade the livelihoods of Coop members



Formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) / Contract

Nature of arrangement: Pro-poor public private partnership

Main tasks (e.g. door to door collection, sorting, etc.)

Value added services: collection of unwanted household

goods, of e-waste and garden waste and housekeeping

Mode of collection (e.g. manual push carts, small motorized

vehicles introduced in difficult terrain, etc.)



Formal MOU / Contract

Workers involved (e.g. two workers for 200-300 households,

offices, shops, other establishments)

User fee: From all classes of users

User fee amount: per household per month depending

upon certain variables (in slums: to be part subsidized per

household per month)




Rights over recyclables (Collectors have rights over

recyclables and retain income from sale of scrap)

Fair trade centres (payment is immediate and in cash, and

receipts are issued for every transaction)




Obligations of the parties

The Municipality and the Coop work in tandem to ensure effective primary collection and onward transport for processing.

a) The Municipal Corporation:

Provision of collection equipment and safety gear (raincoats, footwear, uniforms, etc.)

Provision of office, infrastructure and resource recovery centres




Obligations of the parties

b) The Coop:

Meetings with neighborhood civic groups institutionalized by the Municipality and held monthly in each municipal ward

Carries out resident education campaigns on waste related issues

Operates help lines, one for customers and another for members who can call in with their problems




Terms of payment: Operational grant to cover

management costs and some operational costs reducing

annually in proportion to the sales revenue



Carry out careful studies to fully understand the real

problems

Define Implementation Arrangements

Establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation)

Develop community based institutions to manage the daily activities

Experiment with different approaches

Involvement of municipal governments and agencies that

are intended to finance social programs in designing and planning them to ensure their commitment



TYPE 1. INDIVIDUAL WASTE-PICKERS

TYPE 2. MIDDLEMEN / CONTRACTORS

TYPE 3. INDUSTRY

E. Our Survey (*)

(*) “Development of a National Strategy to Improve the Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”

E1. Questionnaires

Contents:

Identification of area of Quest. application

Demographic & Social features

Hazards, Health and Living Conditions

Occupational characteristics, Income, and Job

Satisfaction

Organizational Structure and Key Actors

Aspects towards an integration policy

E. Our Survey

E1. Questionnaires

E. Our Survey

E2. Sampling

# Target Activity Target Group Statistical Sample

Size

1 Informal waste-picking in the “city” level

Waste-pickers 80 waste-pickers

Middlemen 5 middlemen

Final destination (industry)

50%-75%*

2 Informal waste-picking in the “dumpsite” level


3 Formal waste-picking in the “dumpsite” level


Contractors 2

E. Our Survey

E3. Processing in Data Base

Based on the above, a SWOT analysis will be

conducted to measure the socioeconomic

impacts of these activities and provide

recommendations to improve the MSWM system

in Jordan.

E4. Socioeconomic Assessment

Thank you for your attention

George Tsivilis / LDK / Solid Waste Management Expert

(Principal Consultant)

on behalf of the LDK/Al Mostaqbal Team

Documents

George TSIVILIS (LDK Consultants) Christos STATHIS (LDK ... · Yanal ABEDA (Al Mostaqbal) MAY 2014 . Structure of Presentation A. Existing Situation B. Informal Waste Picking: Evil