University of Natural Resopurces and Life Sciences, Vienna Department Water - Atmosphere - Environment

Institute of Waste Management

Key performance indicators of the informal waste recycling sector

Roland Ramusch

Roland RAMUSCH

Contents

• Informal waste recycling sector (IS): definitions and activities

• The need for data

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on IS

• Modernisation of waste management systems: inclusive or competing systems?

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Definition „informal“

- “Without formal assignment, not official”

© ABF-BOKU

60 % of global labour force work under precarious conditions

Employees with working contracts: 1.2 billion

Informally employed: 1.8 billion

Source: OECD, 2009

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Definition „informal waste recycling sector“

“Individuals or enterprises who are involved in private sector recycling and waste management activities which are not sponsored, financed, recognised, supported, organised or acknowledged by the formal solid waste authorities, or which operate in violation of or in competition with formal authorities.”

Scheinberg et al. (2010)

Typical elements of a waste management system in low- or middle income countries (Zurbrügg, 2003)

On route / truck waste pickers

Waste picking from dumps or landfills.

Doorstep (household) waste pickers

Itinerant Waste Buyers Street waste

picking

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Activities in the informal waste recycling sector

Credit: ABF-BOKU Credit: Angelika Kessler

Credit: ABF-BOKU

Credit: Reuters / China Photo

Credit: ABF-BOKU

Credit: ABF-BOKU

West Africa Zambia

China

China

Ethiopia Indonesia

China

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IS only in low-income countries?

Credits: ABF-BOKU,

Charalampos Koutalakis

Belgrade

Belgrade

Poland

Athens Vienna

Credit: denBoer

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Pakomak I.M. (2013): Informal waste picking in the streets of Skopje

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Informal sector (IS) of scientific interest?

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The need for data

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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• IS usually keeps no records on its activities, therefore it is difficult to estimate its potential contribution to waste collection, processing and recycling services;

• Research at BOKU aims at providing KPIs that are suitable for estimating IS contribution.

• KPIs may be used within…

− …initial appraisals of waste management systems

− …for planning new or monitoring of existing WM-systems.

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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Data obtained from an extensive literature review (more than 100 journal papers, reports, studies, books and policy papers etc.) => KPIs were compiled.

• KPIs were derived related to:

− Reported size of IS in different regions of the world; − Collected amounts per day; − Income related information; − Job creation potential.

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Size of informal waste sector

1 % = 10 per 1,000 inhabitants Source: Linzner & Lange, 2013

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Size of informal waste sector

1 % = 10 per 1,000 inhabitants Source: Linzner & Lange, 2013

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Size of informal waste sector

Informal waste sector in urban areas worldwide:

• ranging from approx. 0.5 % to 2 % of the urban population; • This equals 12.5 to 56 million people (equivalent to the

populations of Cambodia and Italy, respectively); • In the three largest countries where informal activities can be

observed (China, India and Brazil) the total estimated number of informal workers extends to approx. 6 to 12 million people.

Source: Linzner & Lange, 2013

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Performance of informal waste sector

=> Mainly depending on material characteristics, topography, age and constitution of pickers etc.

6 – 10 km / d 200 kg / d

20 – 25 km / d 25 - 60 kg / d

6 – 7 km / d 9 – 40 kg / d

2,000 – 3,000 kg / d

10 – 15 km / d 500 kg / d

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Performance of informal waste sector

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Recycling rates

Agarwal et al. (2005); Hetz et al.(2011); Sembiring & Nitivattananon (2010); Sengh et al. (2011); Wilson et al (2009); Scheinberg (2011).

Recycling rates in EU-countries, e.g.: - e.g. UK: approx. 30% (2005) - Austria: approx. 50% (2006)

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Livelihoods – job generation

Source: Linzner & Lange, 2013: based on ILSR (1997) and UN-Habitat (2010) data; Davis (2013)

Final disposal: 1

Sorting: 10

Recycling based manufacturers: 20 - 162

Re-use: 470

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Livelihoods – income

⇒ 1 to 15 USD / day: incomes are often calculated based on material prices and therefore are not reflecting net incomes but revenues.

⇒ Per kg prices of collected materials may increase by a factor of 3 up the recycling hierarchy.

Source: Linzner & Lange (2013)

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KPIs - shortcomings

• KPIs are based on extensive literature research and are only indicative values.

• Calculations based on KPIs are therefore rough estimates.

• Informal waste sector realities vary from region to region; therefore estimates based on KPIs have to be cross-checked (“triangulation”).

• On-the-ground research is indispensable in order to obtain “real life” data and information.

• It is not possible to evaluate informal activities from the distance!

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Modernisation of waste management systems: inclusive or competing systems?

• Most programmes to enhance recycling suggest that service coverage levels need to be improved by large-scale investments.

• IS has a “non-governmental” perspective about waste and different values attached to it.

• Waste is seen as opportunity, a valuable material which could be collected, separated, traded and recycled for an income.

• This view may be similar to that held by large global waste companies about the waste in high-income countries.

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Modernisation of waste management systems: inclusive or competing systems?

• Informal activities are large-scale in terms of number of income opportunities they may create and the number of customers they reach.

• Informal stakeholders make their own investments and have their own systems of technology development and innovation.

• This situation may create parallel worlds in waste policies and practice.

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Modernisation of waste management systems: inclusive or competing systems?

• Main question: Use the knowledge and experience of the existing systems where IS plays a key role or strive for modernisation, excluding this knowledge, and focus more on large-scale technologies?

• Inclusive systems: both informal and official systems are equally important and could exist side by side, rather than one needing to be a sub-set of the other.

• Care needs to be taken on how to design the interfaces between these two systems, especially when they interact.

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Modernisation of waste management systems: inclusive or competing systems?

• Conventional waste-related data and use of planning methods could push out the informal systems, as these data sets are designed for conventional planning of waste systems, with the ultimate conclusion of more investment.

• Inclusive planning activities should consider extended data sets on informal activities, such as reliability of systems, quantities captured over time, quality of materials collected, achievable prices etc.

• When both systems operate side by side, a monitoring of both systems is required to ensure that both are contributing to the same goals, although possibly through different pathways and approaches.

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Literature (1) 1. Informal sector – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Linzner R and Lange U (2013). Role and size of informal sector in waste management – a review. Proceedings of the ICE - Waste and Resource Management Volume 166: 15.

Linzner R, Pertl A, Scherhaufer S, Schmied E, Obersteiner G (2013). Parallel worlds - Informal work in waste management. Österreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft, 65, ISSN 0945-358X.

Linzner R, Salhofer S, Ali M (2013). Informal sector activities in waste management - a parallel world or worth integrating? In: Cossu R, He P, Kjeldsen P, Matsufuji Y, Reinhart D, Stegmann, R (Eds.) Sardinia 2013 - Fourteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium (30. September - 4. October 2013, S. Margherita di Pula - Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy). Executive Summaries - symposium proceedings, CISA Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre. ISBN 978-88-6265-028-1.

Linzner R, Obersteiner G, (2012). Die unsichtbare Hand – Informelle Arbeit in der Abfallwirtschaft. Zeitschrift „politische ökologie“ Nr. 129 – 2012, Rohstoffquelle Abfall - Wie aus Müll Produkte von morgen werden, pp. 71-78. Verlag oekom. (Invisible hands – informal work in waste management). Siehe auch: www.politische-oekologie.de. Politische Ökologie, 129, 71-78; ISSN 0933-5722.

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Literature (2)

2. Estimation of IS performance in urban China and Beijing Linzner R and Salhofer S (2014). Municipal solid waste recycling and the significance of informal sector in urban China. Waste Management and Research September 2014 (32): 896-907, first published on August 8, 2014.

3. Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria

Ramusch R, Pertl A, Scherhaufer S, Schmied E, Obersteiner G. (2015). Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria. Waste Manag. 2015 Jul 21. pii: S0956-053X(15)30032-5. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2015.07.015. In press.

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References

Scheinberg A, Simpson M and Gupt Y (2010): Economic Aspects of the Informal Sector in Solid Waste Management. Main Report Volume 1. GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) and the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste Management in Low and Middle Income Countries (CWG), Eschborn, Germany.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2009): Is Informal Normal? Towards More and Better Jobs in Developing Countries. Based on ILO LABORSTA database and ILO Global Employment Trends. OECD, Paris, France.

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University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Department Water - Atmosphere - Environment

Institute of Waste Management abf@boku.ac.at, www.wau.boku.ac.at/abf.html

Tel.: +43 (0)1 318 99 00, Fax: +43 (0)1 318 99 00 350 Muthgasse 107/3rd floor, A-1190 Vienna

roland.ramusch@boku.ac.at