The Informal Sector in Solid Waste Management

Growing urbanisation and a concurrent rise in urban populations are taking a toll on the basic services that cities provide to their citizens. Sanitation and waste management is one of the services that is under immense pressure. Cities of the Global South are stretched to the limit, as they are running short of human, financial and technical resources that can help them dealwith this pressure. 

In this scenario, the informal sector can offer an invaluable parallel pool of resources. Informal waste workers – who constitute two per cent of the global population -- collect, segregate, sort, help in recycling and recovering the value of waste.Despite their skillsets and obvious contribution to the SWM value chain, they remain socially and economically vulnerable,with almost no recognition of the role they play. 

If systematically integrated and trained, they can be instrumental in reducing the cost of waste management, increasing the current rate of recovery and recycling, and diverting waste from reaching landfills. India’s flagship scheme in this sector -- Clean India Mission or Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 – has highlighted the need for integrating informal waste workers. 

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) believes such an integration is necessary to achieve a paradigm shift in waste management. CSE invites applications for a five-day online training programme which has been conceptualised on the basis of this conviction.The objective of the course is to examine and re-emphasise the role of the informalsector in the waste value chain; identify thestakeholders involved in informal wasterecycling; and assess the different approaches andstrategies for integration. 

Course Highlights

• Stakeholders in the informal sector, and how they work in the solid waste value chain
• Challenges and opportunities in informal waste recycling
• Approaches and strategies for integration of the informal sector
• Successful Indian case studies 

For more details, please contact: 

Mou Sengupta                                                                         
Deputy Programme Manager
Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy
Centre for Science and Environment
Email:mou.sengupta@cseindia.org
Mobile: +91 9836448262 

Minakshi Solanki
Research Associate
Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy
Centre for Science and Environment
Email: minakshi.solanki@cseindia.org
Mobile: +91 7827392845