Working with Waste: Hazards and Mitigation Strategies Used by Waste Pickers in the Inner City of Durban

Ntobeko Mlotshwa, Tanya Dayaram (), Asiphile Khanyile, Princess A. Sibanda, Kira Erwin and Tamlynn Fleetwood
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Ntobeko Mlotshwa: Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engneering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
Tanya Dayaram: Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engneering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
Asiphile Khanyile: Groundwork, 8 Gough Road, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa
Princess A. Sibanda: NRF SARChI Chair in Sexualities, Genders and Queer Studies, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa
Kira Erwin: Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engneering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa
Tamlynn Fleetwood: Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engneering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-12

Abstract: Informal waste pickers in cities across the Global South divert significant amounts of tonnage from landfills. This diversion contributes towards a sustainable environment and better public health practices. Informal workers globally derive livelihoods from collecting, sorting, and selling recyclable waste. In South Africa, there is growing recognition of the valuable work that waste pickers carry out. Despite this, however, these informal workers remain largely unrecognised, are often stigmatised, and suffer from a lack of social protection linked to their work. This lack of recognition and protection creates specific occupational hazards for waste pickers. Using an ethnographic method, this study explores the physical and socio-psychological hazards that emerge from waste picking on the streets of the inner city of Durban, in South Africa. We found that the waste pickers, the majority of whom were women, developed mitigation strategies against these risks. A better understanding of how the occupational hazards of waste picking are shaped by the local context of working on the street enables the recognition of the knowledge waste pickers already hold regarding mitigation strategies. Insight into occupational hazards are important to consider if the municipal integration of waste pickers is to happen in a way that ensures access to social protections for these informal workers.

Keywords: waste management; recycling; occupational hazard; risk mitigation; waste pickers; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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