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Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector
Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 802–809
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Resources, Conservation and Recycling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec
Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector Emenda Sembiring ∗ , Vilas Nitivattananon 1 Urban Environmental Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 29 May 2009 Received in revised form 18 December 2009 Accepted 20 December 2009 Keywords: Capital forms Inclusive society Indonesia Informal recycling Solid waste management policy
a b s t r a c t Waste is a subjective notion. Some see waste as a risk to public health and the environment, some see it as a mere aesthetic inconvenience, and others see it as a source of income. In the informal recycling sector, there is no question that waste is perceived as a resource. In Bandung, Indonesia, at least one in every 1000 people works in the informal sector, which includes recycling activities by scavengers or waste pickers in the street, in temporary storage sites, and at dump sites. Scavenging is always associated with risk, unhygienic environments, criminal activities, homelessness, unemployment, poverty, and backwardness. These associations tend to perpetuate discrimination against the informal recycling and, in turn, lead to exclusionary policies regarding the informal recycling in solid waste management (SWM). This paper discusses the role of informal recycling in SWM in Bandung, Indonesia, by using the material flow method. This study estimates at least 303 metric tons of refuse are collected by the informal recycling out of a total of 2295 metric tons of garbage generated each day in the city. This study also uses a questionnaire to investigate how local municipal officers and politicians perceive the role of the informal recycling. This paper further shows that despite the positive aspects that the informal recycling brings to SWM in Bandung, there are also negative consequences. It highlights the dilemma faced by decision makers while trying to include the informal recycling in the SWM toward inclusive society. Improved efficiency in waste collection may lead to unemployment of scavengers and waste pickers who belong to the poor strata of society, whereas issues on inclusive society force municipalities to fight against social exclusion. The normative theory of social exclusion and the concept of capital forms were used to address the dilemmas faced by decision makers in this sector. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Today new forms of discrimination have arisen in most societies due to the process of globalization and other modern developments. Cities play an increasingly important role in civil society and have more responsibilities toward their dwellers because of the rapid process of globalization and urbanization (Lazarev, 2008). City dwellers suffer most from social exclusion (Gerometta et al., 2005). Generally, in a city, family ties are limited and weak; the availability of land for agricultural production is restricted; individualism causes social fragmentation and difficulties of integration. A new urban policy such as a public private partnership for large projects often results in more exclusionary institutions (Moulaert et al., 2002 cited in Gerometta et al., 2005).
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 896601196/2 524 7886; fax: +66 2 524 6380. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (E. Sembiring), [email protected] (V. Nitivattananon). 1 Tel.: +66 2 524 5601; fax: +66 2 524 6380. 0921-3449/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2009.12.010
This issue has become prominent in most of the world’s cities. The United Nations (UN) has been aware of issues related to social exclusion and therefore launched The International Coalition of Cities against Racism (ICoCaR) in late June 2008. The ICoCaR brings together the world’s regional coalitions against racism under an initiative launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2004. The UN agency is calling on municipalities in each region to create networks of cities to improve their policies to fight discrimination and to promote diversity, mutual respect, and dialogue. Solid waste management (SWM) usually consists of both the formal and the informal sectors. In Indonesia, the formal sector consists of municipal agencies whereas the informal sector consists of unregistered, unregulated individuals, groups, or small businesses. In solid waste activities, the informal sector refers to recycling activities that are conducted by scavengers, itinerant waste pickers, or itinerant waste buyers. The informal sector is also a labor intensive, with low technology and low income (Wilson et al., 2006). Several factors drive the existence of the informal sector, such as physical characteristics of cities, socio-economic conditions,
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and policy related to urban environmental management (Medina, 2000). Specific physical characteristics of cities in developing countries such as rapid population growth, urbanization, and lack of resources to provide a better SWM translate into insufficient waste collection, open dumping, and the piling up of waste on the streets and in the rivers. This makes refuse available for the informal sector. Informal waste recycling involves urban poor and marginalized social groups who use waste picking as a source of income, and often as their only survival strategy. In an unequal society, however, informal waste recycling will continue for the foreseeable future (Ackerman and Mirza, 2001). After the global monetary and economic crisis in 1997, more urban poor have become been involved in recycling. Interviews show that most of the respondents have been working as scavengers less than 10 years, meaning that they actually became involved after the crisis (Anastasia, 2007; Dewi, 2007; Hadiana, 2006). According to Medina (2000) and Calvo et al. (2007), almost 2% of the population in Asia and Latin America was involved in the informal sector of SWM in the 1980s to early 1990s. However, the collection of recyclable materials by the informal sector is not recognized as resource recovery, so people usually do not see the benefits and contributions of this sector to environmental health and sustainability (Gutberlet, 2008). The lack of urban SWM policies, which include the informal sector, reiterates the negative attitude toward informal recycling in developing countries. This paper contributes to a conceptualization of integration of the informal sector in SWM toward inclusive society. It is divided into three parts. Part 1 finds the present contribution of the informal sector in SWM through the material flow method. Part 2 describes how decision makers perceive the role of the informal sector through the application of a questionnaire. Part 3 seeks to contribute to a conceptualization of integration of the informal sector in SWM toward inclusive society by highlighting the dilemma faced by decision makers in integrating this informal sector. 2. City of study This study was conducted in Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia, which covers an area of 16,767 ha (BPS, 2007). The population in 2006 was estimated at over 2 million (BPS, 2007). The area of Bandung city is divided into 26 districts (kecamatan), 139 sub-district (kelurahan), 1509 cluster neighborhood units (RW), and 9378 neighborhood units (RT). The population growth rate was 1.15% in the period of 1990–2000 (BPS, 2007). The average population density was 13,505 km−2 in 2006 (BPS, 2007). Its solid waste generation rate was 2.5 l/capita/day (PD Kebersihan Bandung, 2007). Fig. 1 shows the generation of waste per district, calculated based on the waste generation rate, waste density, and population in 2006. Fig. 1 also shows the spatial figure of potential waste to be collected by the scavenger. Organic waste forms the largest proportion (50.6%) of waste composition in Bandung (LPPM ITB, 2007). In 2007, the PD Kebersihan (municipal solid waste authority) collected 60% of waste generated (Table 1). As a result, some parts of waste were indiscriminately dumped on roadsides, and into open drains, rivers, and the surrounding environment. 3. Methodology 3.1. Role of the informal sector in SWM The informal sector is a way of doing things, which is characterized by easy entry, reliance on indigenous resources, family ownership, small-scale operation, labor intensiveness, adapted
803
technology, skills acquired outside the formal school system, and an unregulated and competitive market (ILO Kenya report cited in Bromley, 1979). Most of the time informal sector activities are largely ignored, rarely supported, and sometimes actively discouraged by governments (Bromley, 1979). Estimation of the informal sector’s role was synthesized from secondary data. Links among several actors were determined by studying the flow of materials. Actor means groups of people that are involved in SWM. A material flow analysis was developed to see the contribution of each category of actors. A material flow analysis is a systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of materials within the system defined in a certain space and time (Brunner and Rechberger, 2003). The material flow model that was used in this paper can be written as:
+ +
mi,street waste pickers +
mi,itinerant buyers + mi,municipal staff =
mi,landfill scavengers
mi,TPS scavengers
mi,large-scale enterprises
(1)
where mi,street waste pickers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by street waste pickers; mi,landfill scavengers = potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by landfill scavengers; mi,itinerant buyers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by itinerant buyers; an itinerant buyer is a scavenger who collects waste door to door, and it is different from a middleman; mi,TPS scavengers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by temporary storage site scavengers; mi,municipal staff : potential recyclable materials (i) from waste is collected by municipal staff; mi,large-scale enterprises : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by large-scale enterprises prior to selling them to manufacturers. It is assumed that no street waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, or municipal staffs sell the potential recyclable materials that are collected, directly to manufacturers. Before the recyclable materials are sent to large-scale enterprises, several paths might be possible. However, Eq. (1) shows no intermediate flows to dealers or to small-scale enterprises since recyclable materials will eventually be sold to large-scale enterprises. Scavengers, municipal staff, and itinerant buyers may sell recyclable materials directly to dealers or to enterprises. In this case, the paths are not accounted for according to the principle of material balance and to avoid double calculation:
mi,input =
mi,output
(2)
where mi,input : potential recyclable material (i) enters flow; mi,output : potential recyclable material (i) leaves flow. Eq. (2) shows that the model should follow a material balance constraint. The material balance constraint is based on the material balance theorem, which states that the amount of incoming quantity of materials should equal the amount of outgoing quantity of materials. In this model, the amount of recovered material collected by street waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, and municipal staff should equal the amount of recovered material collected by large-scale enterprises. The application of the model used secondary data, e.g., several reports, which were then arranged and combined according to the needs of this paper. However, to find which recyclable materials can be used as indicators of informal recycling, primary data were used in this study. Approximately 525 household questionnaires were administered in the city of Bandung. The household questionnaires consist of three parts. Part 1 is general information about respondents. Part 2 is major concerns
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Fig. 1. Waste generation per district in Bandung city.
about urban environmental management. Part 3 is households’ solid waste service and behavior. For the purpose of this paper, only the third part of the questionnaire was analyzed. Third part results plus some secondary data were used to calculate the total contribution of all the actors. 3.2. Decision makers’ perception on the informal sector To determine the perception of decision makers about the informal sector, interviews were conducted using a structural questionnaire. Top and middle management officers of municipal offices, politicians, non-governmental organizations (NGO) workers, and academic experts involved in SWM in Bandung were surveyed. The population of each group of respondents was estimated by using both lists of published groups and organizational structure. Organizational structure was used for municipal officers. For NGOs, politicians, and academic experts, lists of published NGOs, parties, and universities/institutes were used. Only organizations/universities/institutes and NGOs that have been specifically involved in solid waste and environmental programs/issues were included (Table 2). The questionnaire for decision makers consists of two parts. Part 1 relates to background information regarding the respondents and how they are involved in making SWM decision. Part 2 reveals an individual ranking and level of agreements of four different scenarTable 1 Service coverage in Bandung. Source generation
• Scenario 1, integration of household composting and community composting and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 2, integration of the informal sector such as scavengers, itinerants, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 3, integration of composting, waste to energy (WTE) facilities, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 4, integration of the informal sector, composting, WTE facilities, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. Table 2 Type of decision makers. Decision makers
Frequency
Valid percent
Politician Government Academia NGO
4 30 8 14
7.1 53.6 143 25.0
Total
56
100.0
a
Generation
Waste collected
m3 /day
m3 /day
%
Residents Tradition market and commercial area Streets and public facilities Industries
3973 925 1810 787
3063 627 479 366
76.1 67.8 26.5 46.5
Total
7500
4535
60
Source: PD Kebersihan Bandung (2007).
ios, in which the respondent was asked to evaluate the scenario on a LIKERT scale, a five-point scale from very good to very poor or from agree to disagree. The four scenarios discussed in this paper are:
Predicted populationa 10b 67c 57d >20e
Only organisation/university institute and NGO, which involved in solid waste and environment programs issues specifically are included. Only top and middle management are considered. b There are 10 parties; one respondent represents one party. c Sixty-seven officers occupy from head of office to vice head of division (wakil kepala bidarg). d Fifty-seven are total numbers of universities and higher education institute in Bandung. However, only five universities include environmental engineering and development study program. The experts from academia are far less than university numbers and lecturer numbers in the university. e Number of listed and registered environmental and development NGOs that is available in Bandung.
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805
Fig. 2. Actors and material flows of recyclable waste.
Table 3 Prediction of number of workers in informal sector of SWM. Actor
Total number of facilities/enterprises
Number of workersa
Worker in informal sector
Scavenger at TPS Scavenger at TPA Itinerant buyers Dealer Enterprises (small) Enterprises (large)
182 1 52b 18b 28b 28b
12 400 1 4 4.5 4.5
2184 400 52 72 126 81
Total a b
2915
Damanhuri et al. (2006). Numbers were taken from total number of respondents surveyed by Anastasia (2007), Dewi (2007) and Hadiana (2006).
Table 4 Type of waste that scavengers collect at households. Type
Yes (%)
No (%)
Total samples
Papers Glass Plastics Organic/food waste Metals Woods Fabric/textile Others (bottle, cardboard, etc.)
63.9 33.7 78.6 5.9 55.5 15.5 11.5 50.5
31.1 66.3 21.4 94.1 44.5 84.5 88.5 49.1
498 445 510 410 461 419 417 525
The respondents were assisted in answering the questionnaire. Only top and middle management staff were involved in this survey. The final number of respondents was 56 respondents within a 2-month survey. Difficulties included finding the right time to conduct the survey, as most of the respondents had very tight schedule. The answers were coded into discrete numerical values from one to five for basic statistical analysis. Independent sample t-test was performed to analyze the statistical significance of observed differences in answers to different scenarios.
3.3. Conceptual approach on integration of the informal sector toward an inclusive society Decision makers face a dilemma when trying to include the informal recycling in SWM. Improving the collection of waste and closing landfills to the informal recycling for safety reasons may lead to unemployment of both scavengers and waste pickers, but allowing informal recycling at a landfill may disturb the landfill’s operation. In addition, if the authority wants to accept the informal sectors, then it must also accept all consequences of this decision.
Table 5 Recyclable materials at large-scale enterprises. Recyclable materials
Total recyclable materials are captured by large enterprises (tons/day)
Possible availability of material in waste flow (tons/day)
Contribution of informal sector (%)
Plastic Metal Paper
44.52 95.96 209.97
541.84 48.65 241.43
8 Data is not valida 86%
Total
350.45
831.92
Authors calculation based on data surveyed by Hadiana (2006), Dewi (2007) and Anastasia (2007). a Data is not reliable and valid as the amount of waste captured by large enterprises is higher than possible available waste flow.
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In Bandung, for example, acceptance of the informal sector means accepting illegal inhabitants and emigrants from neighboring towns who seek economic subsistence. It also means that illegal inhabitants should be registered. Registered inhabitants have a social status and rights, which authorities must respect. More temporary slum areas will be developed, so more urban environmental services should be provided for the new registered inhabitants. This dilemma is discussed by referring to the concept of the normative theory of social exclusion and the type of capital forms. Normative theory refers to a normative framework of political theory in addressing social exclusion. Normative theory relates to value judgments about what in general should be done in society, and making the best decision among several choices. Thus, in this paper, the normative theory of social inclusion is concerned with how to make the best decision regarding inclusion of the informal sector. Finite and limited resources force policy makers to set priorities regarding social exclusion. Since there are multiple ‘bads’ and ‘goods,’ where not all can be addressed, one must make tradeoffs and use a normative classification to determine which tradeoffs are the most deserving of exclusion or inclusion. Preconditions to achieve social inclusion are discussed by pinpointing five forms of capital. 4. Results and discussion 4.1. Role of the informal sector in SWM Informal recycling in Bandung can be seen as recovering material from waste and is mostly conducted by scavengers or waste pickers. In Bandung, some municipal solid waste collection crews increase their income by recovering material from waste, but scavengers conduct the majority of the informal recycling. Scavengers treat waste as a resource for generating income. Associating scavengers with waste, a low status material, reinforces the low social status of scavengers. Thus, in this paper, scavengers or waste pickers are defined as an informal SWM system based on recovery, rather than disposal, of waste material, and who share a stigma as a result of their occupation. Based on the recyclable material flow, there are several categories of waste collectors, depending on where recycling activities take place and what activities are involved, as shown in Fig. 2: (1) Street waste pickers who collect recyclable materials from bins or waste left in the streets. (2) Temporary storage site scavengers who pick up recyclable materials from temporary storage sites (tempat pembuangan sementara, TPS). (3) Landfill site scavengers who collect recyclable materials from final disposal sites (tempat pembuangan akhir sampah, TPA). (4) Domestic servants/maids who collect recyclable materials from households, then sell them to itinerant waste buyers. (5) Itinerant waste buyers who buy recyclable materials door to door. (6) Municipal waste collection crews who segregate waste and sell to scrap dealers (lapak). (7) Small scrap dealers who buy the recyclable materials directly from scavengers or itinerants. (8) Small/large-scale enterprises (bandar) who buy recyclable materials from scrap dealers. (9) Intermediates who usually connect large-scale enterprises with manufacturers. Fig. 2 shows the economic flow among actors engaged in recovering waste material. All the actors see recovered material as resources and see a potential business in waste recycling. Fig. 2
also shows the role of informal recycling in recovering waste material. By collecting and processing waste material, scavengers benefit from selling recyclable waste. Regardless of the motivation of all actors to collect, to process, and to sell recyclable waste, the flow shows that informal recycling contributes to recovering material from waste. As per the definition of the scavenger in this paper, the scavenger sees waste as a resource to recover rather than a disposal activity, meaning that the scavenger is engaged in reducing waste. The more recovered materials are diverted from the flow, the less waste has to be disposed of. Finding the flows of recyclable materials from the informal sector is not an easy task due to its unregistered nature. Most informal recycling activities are unregistered except for some of the largescale enterprises, intermediates, and manufacturers. Therefore, the total population may only be determined by approximation. Nonetheless, an approximation of its contribution can be drawn from model prediction. It was estimated that at least 2915 people worked in the informal sector in SWM in Bandung in 2006 (Table 3). Based on a survey of 525 Bandung households between February and May 2008, the type of waste collected by scavengers is summarized in Table 4. One of the questions centered on what type of waste scavengers pick up at the household level. Based on the answers, the contribution of the informal sector was drawn from three recyclable materials, namely paper, plastics and metals. The reason for choosing those three types of recyclable materials was that they are mostly likely to eventually enter the recycled market, as confirmed by their higher percentages of possible waste being collected by the scavengers. The total contribution of the informal recycling to the final market before entering manufacturing or large enterprises was examined using Eq. (1). If the model is valid, it should fit into Eq. (2), the constraint of model. For example, the total plastic waste collected by waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, and municipal staff was 44.5 metric tons/day. The total plastics waste collected by large-scale enterprises approximately equaled 44.5 metric tons/day. The total possible available plastics waste in Bandung was 541.8 ton/day. In this case, the 44.5 metric tons/day of plastic captured by informal recycling was less than the total possible available plastic generated in Bandung, meaning that it followed the prediction. It was estimated that at least 350 metric tons of recyclable paper, plastics, and metals are captured by the informal sector (Table 5). However, there are some discrepancies in the data. For example, the total amount of recyclable materials captured by large-scale enterprises was larger than the amount generated. Recyclable metals were predicted as the total possible metals available in waste, in this case 48 metric tons/day. Thus, it was more likely that the informal sector captured 303 metric tons/day of recyclable paper, plastics, and metals. 4.2. Decision makers’ perception of the informal sector Knowing the contribution of informal sector in diverting recyclable materials from the waste stream is not enough to set policy related to this matter. To convince authorities and politicians is a major challenge. Currently, public policies toward the informal sector are generally negative. By looking at the genesis of policy related to SWM, it is understandable why these policies are largely negative. They have been traditionally driven by the need to control public health and the environmental consequences of inadequate SWM (Medina, 2000; Wilson et al., 2006). This is also shown in the latest act related to SWM in Indonesia. According to Act No. 18, 2008, article 4: “solid waste management
E. Sembiring, V. Nitivattananon / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 802–809 Table 8 One-way-ANOVA analysis of gender differences to rank scenarios.
Table 6 Gender distribution of respondents. Type of decision makers
807
Gender of decision makers Male
Female
Total
Politician Government Academia NGOs
3 20 6 12
1 10 2 2
4 30 8 14
Total
41
15
56
Scenario
F
Significance
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Scenario 4
0.982 1.495 0.291 0.324
0.326 0.227 0.592 0.571
Table 9 Independent t-test for equality of means.
aims to improve both public health and environmental quality as well as to make waste as resources.” Meanwhile, the informal sector is always associated with unhygienic environment and risk to public health. Some authorities are embarrassed by the presence of scavengers in their city. Most of the time scavengers live in slum areas close to the dumpsites. These slum areas are more likely to expand because more peasants from neighboring towns come to the cities looking for work. The following discussion shows the perception and attitude of decision makers toward the informal sector in SWM. The gender distribution of respondents can be seen in Table 6, and the descriptive figure of opinions of each group toward the scenarios can be seen in Fig. 3. Scenario 1, integration of household and community composting and the improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill, was found to be the most preferred scenario, as shown by the lowest mean score. The lowest mean score means that the scenario is preferred over other scenarios. This is shown in the last two rankings of scenarios. Adding WTE facilities to otherwise identical scenarios increased the mean score from 1.79 to 2.39; thus, adding WTE facilities decreased the scenario’s popularity (Table 7). There was no statistical difference among male and female respondents toward all scenarios, including integration of the informal sector (scenario 2). The analysis was based on one-way ANOVA analysis to compare gender mean (as factor) with scenario rank (as dependent variable). The results showed that significant value was
Independent sample t-test
df
Significance (two-tailed)
Scenario 1 and 2 Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed
110 109.537
0.001 0.001
greater than 0.05, meaning that, statistically, gender differences had no impact on scenario rank (Table 8). Statistically, decision makers preferred integrating the composting technologies to integrating the informal sector. Based on the independent sample t-test, comparing the mean scores of scenarios 1 and 2 shows a significant difference between their ranks (the significance of 0.001 is less than 0.05, see also Table 9). Therefore, statistically decision makers significantly preferred integrating the composting to integrating the informal sector. Comparing scenarios 3 and 4 by independent sample t-test shows no significant difference between mean scores. This differs from the t-test between scenarios 1 and 2. In other words, by adding the WTE facility into the scenario, statistically, there is no difference between integrating composting and the informal sector. A strong negative attitude toward WTE facilities among all stakeholders in Bandung may be the reason. The least preferable scenario shows less acceptance of the informal sector. The authors suspect that this is due to prejudice. However, because of its limitation, this study does not explore why decision makers prefer the composting to integration of the informal sector.
Fig. 3. Opinion of each group toward scenarios.
Table 7 Mean, median score and final ranking of scenarios, based on respondent’s valuation on mean score. Scenario
Valid
Mean
Median
Variance
Ranking (based on mean score)
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Scenario 4
56 56 56 56
1.79 2.27 2.39 2.52
2.00 2.00 2.00 2.50
0.608 1.000 1.370 1.381
1 2 3 4
808
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Medina (2000) and Wilson et al. (2006) reported a similar prejudice, that the attitude toward the informal sector was often negative. Drackner (2005) made it clearer by arguing that as the informal sector in SWM was associated with waste, and waste is seen as a risk to public health and environment, the subjective perception affects local management systems. Based on these findings, breaking down the barriers to integrating the informal sector into SWM is the major challenge. 4.3. Conceptual approach to integrating the informal sector toward an inclusive society This paper shows that the informal sector plays a significant role in diverting recyclable materials from waste. However, these findings will not directly change the negative perception of decision makers toward this sector. Decision makers have a dilemma with integrating the informal sector. For example, one of respondents was concerned about operational problems that would be caused by involving the informal sector (C. Iskandar,2 2008, personal communication, June 18). However, no action was conducted as a result, as the PD Kebersihan Bandung continued to allow informal sector activities at the Sari Mukti landfill site. Other respondents were concerned about the additional cost of involving informal recycling (S. Wangsatmadja,3 2008, personal communication, June 13). In addition to those conversations, although most current personal communication was conducted out of curiosity, the authors asked the same question of the Director of Environmental Sanitation Development, Ministry of Public Works in Indonesia at the Inaugural meeting of the regional 3R forum in Asia, on November 11, 2009, in Tokyo. According to Susmono, the involvement of the informal sector needs additional cost (Susmono, 2009, personal communication, November 11). This is one of the reasons why integrating the informal sector in SWM is still a major challenge in developing countries. The authors propose a conceptual approach in dealing with the issue on integrating the informal sector in SWM. The conceptual approach refers to five forms of capital, namely financial, physical, human, public infrastructure, and social capital, as a precondition of social inclusion. To understand the conceptual approach, the discussion starts by exploring why the informal sector is excluded from SWM and why it is hard to integrate this sector into SWM. Social exclusion is a process by which certain groups are discriminated against based on class, status, identity, condition, or disadvantages. Similarly, the informal sector is socially excluded from SWM because of discrimination against status, condition, or disadvantages. Even though the informal sector is not necessarily the poorest of the poor, negative attitudes and perceptions weaken the social status of scavengers. This statement also applies to the lowest level of hierarchy in the informal recycling; the waste pickers and scavengers are not the poorest of the poor. Social exclusion of the informal sector can be understood by looking at the genesis of social exclusion and social choice theory. Social choice theory explains the normative framework used to understand how decision makers address social exclusion. The framework begins from the need of policy makers to set priorities among other policies within finite resources. Most of the time, SWM is the last priority in local government budgets.
2 At the time of interview in 2008, he was the former technical and operational director of PD Kebersihan Bandung. He is currently the chief director of PD Kebersihan Bandung. 3 Currently the head of Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), West Java. At the time of the interview, he was the former head division in EPA, West Java.
Fig. 4. Cycle of capital existence in integration of informal sector toward inclusive society.
In Indonesia, for example, the SWM budget is between 0.5% and 4.0% of the total local government budget (Ministry of Environment, 2005). Moreover, the authorities believe that accepting the informal sectors into SWM will require more resources to overcome public health concerns and environmental consequences. With limited resources, it is difficult for authorities to adopt any policy requiring additional cost, such as involving the informal sector into SWM. However, this perception has never been studied thoroughly. Is it true that formalizing the informal sector in SWM will make waste collection more inefficient and ineffective, or is it the other way around? Therefore, a study of the consequences of formalizing the informal sectors is needed. Past policy shows that if the authority tries to change the occupations of scavengers to improve their livelihoods, it will fail to improve their livelihoods (Medina, 2000; Wilson et al., 2006). Therefore, finding what the scavengers need is more important than what the authority wants. Besides, it needs a new approach to integrate the informal sector. The authors propose a compromise solution to this dilemma by referring to five forms of capital, which affect the prosperity and poverty. Financial, physical, and public infrastructure capitals are tangible, whereas human and social capitals are intangible. Financial capital is the financial assets available. Physical capital is physical assets such as property, land, or machines. Public infrastructure capital comprises schools, hospitals, roads, and drains. Human capital relates to individual skills, abilities, training, or education. Social capital includes norms, value, rules, and networks. In order to raise prosperity, all of those capitals should exist. The authors argue that before integrating the informal sector into SWM system, the first step is to increase the ability of the informal sector to add value to collected materials. When the value is increased, the price of materials increases, ceteris paribus. When income increases, then the informal sector can provide individual services and improve their living condition, as well as get social acceptance from other inhabitants of the city. In other words, while increasing financial capital through human capital and social capital, increasing the other capitals such as physical and public infrastructure can also be achieved. At this point, authors agree with Baud et al. (2001) that quality of life in SWM can be improved by strengthening the partnership or “alliance.” Medina (2000) and Gutberlet (2008) described the successful story of a recycling cooperative to improve the human
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quality of life. At the beginning, the partnership increase both human and social capital, then, in turn, financial capital and the other capitals. The concept of this approach is summarized in Fig. 4. Cooperation between the informal sector and the formal sector can be part of the solution in SWM. In line with both decentralization and reducing the role of public authorities in services and infrastructure, integrating the informal sector as privatization of part of the services in SWM can be one solution. Similar findings were also proposed by Ojeda-Benitez et al. (2002) in Mexicali, Mexico. The policy implication of those findings is to allow the integration of the informal sector into SWM. However, some preconditions should be achieved before allowing further involvement. The highlighted precondition in this paper is the availability of partnership and alliance. Partnerships may induce both human and social capitals, which in turn may increase the accumulation of other capitals such as financial, physical, and public infrastructure. The accumulation of tangible capitals and the increase of intangible capitals may in turn reduce social stigma against informal recycling. 5. Conclusions The informal sector plays a significant role in diverting recyclable materials from waste. In Bandung city more than 2915 people were involved in the informal sector of SWM. At least 13% (by weight) of waste generated in Bandung city was collected by the informal sector. However, this material flow evidence has not directly changed the perception of decision makers toward the informal sector. The least preferred scenario of integrating the informal sector reveals that decision makers have a negative perception toward the informal sector. The authors argue that convincing decision makers to move from prejudice to a positive engagement such as integration of the informal sector into the formal sector is still a major challenge. Therefore, it is recommended that the re-organization of economic, social, and environmental benefits from the informal recycling should be investigated thoroughly so that their implications can be well understood. Integrating the informal sector into SWM is not an easy task. Decision makers face dilemmas in integrating the informal sector. On the one side, the informal sector contributed to SWM but still requires basic service needs and social rights. On the other side, improving collection and technology will limit the contribution of the informal sector. Several steps should be conducted to overcome this dilemma. The first step is changing the perception of decision makers about the contribution of the informal sector. The second step will be strengthening the partnership among actors involved in the informal sector. Partnerships may induce both human and social capitals, which in turn may increase the accumulation of other capitals such as financial, physical, and public infrastructure. Accumulation of tangible capitals and increases in tangible capitals may in turn reduce the social stigma against the informal sector.
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Acknowledgements This study was funded by The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The authors would like to express their gratitude and sincere appreciation to Professor Enri Damanhuri and Dr Benno Rahardyan of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) for their assistance with some parts of the data acquisition on which this article is based. References Ackerman F, Mirza S. Waste in the inner city; asset or assault? Local Environment 2001;6:113–20. Anastasia M. Papers flow study for economic evaluation in Bandung Kajian Aliran Sampah Kertas untuk Evaluasi Nilai Ekonomi Sampah Kertas Kota Bandung. Bandung, Indonesia: Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB); 2007 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Baud I, Grafakos S, Hordijk M, Post J. Quality of life and alliances in solid waste management: contribution to urban sustainable development. Cities 2001;18:3–12. BPS, Central of Statistical Bureau (Biro Pusat Statistik). Bandung in figures Bandung Dalam Angka. Bandung, Indonesia: Biro Pusat Statistik; 2007 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Bromley R. The urban informal sector: critical perspective on employment and housing policies. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press; 1979. Brunner PH, Rechberger H. Practical handbook of material flow analysis. Florida, USA: Lewis Publishers; 2003. Calvo F, Moreno B, Ramos A, Zamorano M. Implementation of a new environmental impact assessment for municipal waste landfills as tool for planning and decision-making process. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2007;11:98–115. Damanhuri E, Widyarsana IMW, Sembiring E. Updating recycling potential in Bandung as a basis for 3Rs management Evaluasi Ulang (Updating) Potensi Daur-Ulang Sampah Kota Bandung Sebagai Dasar Penentuan Pengelolaan Sampah Berbasis 3-R. Bandung, Indonesia: Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB); 2006 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Dewi NK. Metals flow in Bandung in recycling activities Analisis Aliran Sampah Logam di Kota Bandung dalam Kegiatan Daur Ulang. Bandung, Indonesia: Bandung Institute of Technology; 2007 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Drackner M. What is waste? to whom?—an anthropological perspective on garbage. Waste Management and Research 2005;23:175–81. Gerometta J, Haussermann H, Longo G. Social innovation and civil society in urban governance: strategies for an inclusive city. Urban Studies 2005;42:2007–21. Gutberlet J. Empowering collective recycling initiatives: video documentation and action research with a recycling co-op in Brazil. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2008;52:659–70. Hadiana AR. Plastics flows for economic evaluation of plastics waste in Bandung Kajian Aliran Sampah Plastik untuk Evaluasi Nilai Ekonomi Sampah Plastik Kota Bandung. Bandung, Indonesia: Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB); 2006 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Lazarev S. For an inclusive urban community through inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue—the international coalition of cities against racism. Paper presented at the Conference of Sustainable Cities and Local Governments for a Sustainable World, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Pattaya, Thailand, July 15–28, 2008. LPPM ITB. Feasibility study of waste to energy in Bandung Kelayakan Sampah Bandung sebagai Bahan Bakar Pembangkit. Bandung, Indonesia: Bandung Institute of Technology; 2007 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Medina M. Scavenger cooperatives in Asia and Latin America. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2000;31:51–69. Ministry of Environment. Bangun Praja program and its applications (Program bangun praja dan pelaksanaaanya). Paper presented at the Lokakarya Strategi Pengelolaan Sampah Terpadu, Serpong, Indonesia, June 22–24, 2005 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Ojeda-Benitez S, Armijo-de-Vega C, Ramirez-Barreto ME. Formal and informal recovery of recyclables in Mexicali, Mexico: handling alternatives. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2002;34:273–328. PD Kebersihan Bandung. Annual report Laporan Tahunan. Bandung, Indonesia: PD Kebersihan; 2007 [in Bahasa Indonesia]. Wilson DC, Velis C, Cheeseman C. Role of informal sector recycling in waste management in developing countries. Habitat International 2006;30:797–808.
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Resources, Conservation and Recycling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec
Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector Emenda Sembiring ∗ , Vilas Nitivattananon 1 Urban Environmental Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 29 May 2009 Received in revised form 18 December 2009 Accepted 20 December 2009 Keywords: Capital forms Inclusive society Indonesia Informal recycling Solid waste management policy
a b s t r a c t Waste is a subjective notion. Some see waste as a risk to public health and the environment, some see it as a mere aesthetic inconvenience, and others see it as a source of income. In the informal recycling sector, there is no question that waste is perceived as a resource. In Bandung, Indonesia, at least one in every 1000 people works in the informal sector, which includes recycling activities by scavengers or waste pickers in the street, in temporary storage sites, and at dump sites. Scavenging is always associated with risk, unhygienic environments, criminal activities, homelessness, unemployment, poverty, and backwardness. These associations tend to perpetuate discrimination against the informal recycling and, in turn, lead to exclusionary policies regarding the informal recycling in solid waste management (SWM). This paper discusses the role of informal recycling in SWM in Bandung, Indonesia, by using the material flow method. This study estimates at least 303 metric tons of refuse are collected by the informal recycling out of a total of 2295 metric tons of garbage generated each day in the city. This study also uses a questionnaire to investigate how local municipal officers and politicians perceive the role of the informal recycling. This paper further shows that despite the positive aspects that the informal recycling brings to SWM in Bandung, there are also negative consequences. It highlights the dilemma faced by decision makers while trying to include the informal recycling in the SWM toward inclusive society. Improved efficiency in waste collection may lead to unemployment of scavengers and waste pickers who belong to the poor strata of society, whereas issues on inclusive society force municipalities to fight against social exclusion. The normative theory of social exclusion and the concept of capital forms were used to address the dilemmas faced by decision makers in this sector. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Today new forms of discrimination have arisen in most societies due to the process of globalization and other modern developments. Cities play an increasingly important role in civil society and have more responsibilities toward their dwellers because of the rapid process of globalization and urbanization (Lazarev, 2008). City dwellers suffer most from social exclusion (Gerometta et al., 2005). Generally, in a city, family ties are limited and weak; the availability of land for agricultural production is restricted; individualism causes social fragmentation and difficulties of integration. A new urban policy such as a public private partnership for large projects often results in more exclusionary institutions (Moulaert et al., 2002 cited in Gerometta et al., 2005).
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 896601196/2 524 7886; fax: +66 2 524 6380. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (E. Sembiring), [email protected] (V. Nitivattananon). 1 Tel.: +66 2 524 5601; fax: +66 2 524 6380. 0921-3449/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2009.12.010
This issue has become prominent in most of the world’s cities. The United Nations (UN) has been aware of issues related to social exclusion and therefore launched The International Coalition of Cities against Racism (ICoCaR) in late June 2008. The ICoCaR brings together the world’s regional coalitions against racism under an initiative launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2004. The UN agency is calling on municipalities in each region to create networks of cities to improve their policies to fight discrimination and to promote diversity, mutual respect, and dialogue. Solid waste management (SWM) usually consists of both the formal and the informal sectors. In Indonesia, the formal sector consists of municipal agencies whereas the informal sector consists of unregistered, unregulated individuals, groups, or small businesses. In solid waste activities, the informal sector refers to recycling activities that are conducted by scavengers, itinerant waste pickers, or itinerant waste buyers. The informal sector is also a labor intensive, with low technology and low income (Wilson et al., 2006). Several factors drive the existence of the informal sector, such as physical characteristics of cities, socio-economic conditions,
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and policy related to urban environmental management (Medina, 2000). Specific physical characteristics of cities in developing countries such as rapid population growth, urbanization, and lack of resources to provide a better SWM translate into insufficient waste collection, open dumping, and the piling up of waste on the streets and in the rivers. This makes refuse available for the informal sector. Informal waste recycling involves urban poor and marginalized social groups who use waste picking as a source of income, and often as their only survival strategy. In an unequal society, however, informal waste recycling will continue for the foreseeable future (Ackerman and Mirza, 2001). After the global monetary and economic crisis in 1997, more urban poor have become been involved in recycling. Interviews show that most of the respondents have been working as scavengers less than 10 years, meaning that they actually became involved after the crisis (Anastasia, 2007; Dewi, 2007; Hadiana, 2006). According to Medina (2000) and Calvo et al. (2007), almost 2% of the population in Asia and Latin America was involved in the informal sector of SWM in the 1980s to early 1990s. However, the collection of recyclable materials by the informal sector is not recognized as resource recovery, so people usually do not see the benefits and contributions of this sector to environmental health and sustainability (Gutberlet, 2008). The lack of urban SWM policies, which include the informal sector, reiterates the negative attitude toward informal recycling in developing countries. This paper contributes to a conceptualization of integration of the informal sector in SWM toward inclusive society. It is divided into three parts. Part 1 finds the present contribution of the informal sector in SWM through the material flow method. Part 2 describes how decision makers perceive the role of the informal sector through the application of a questionnaire. Part 3 seeks to contribute to a conceptualization of integration of the informal sector in SWM toward inclusive society by highlighting the dilemma faced by decision makers in integrating this informal sector. 2. City of study This study was conducted in Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia, which covers an area of 16,767 ha (BPS, 2007). The population in 2006 was estimated at over 2 million (BPS, 2007). The area of Bandung city is divided into 26 districts (kecamatan), 139 sub-district (kelurahan), 1509 cluster neighborhood units (RW), and 9378 neighborhood units (RT). The population growth rate was 1.15% in the period of 1990–2000 (BPS, 2007). The average population density was 13,505 km−2 in 2006 (BPS, 2007). Its solid waste generation rate was 2.5 l/capita/day (PD Kebersihan Bandung, 2007). Fig. 1 shows the generation of waste per district, calculated based on the waste generation rate, waste density, and population in 2006. Fig. 1 also shows the spatial figure of potential waste to be collected by the scavenger. Organic waste forms the largest proportion (50.6%) of waste composition in Bandung (LPPM ITB, 2007). In 2007, the PD Kebersihan (municipal solid waste authority) collected 60% of waste generated (Table 1). As a result, some parts of waste were indiscriminately dumped on roadsides, and into open drains, rivers, and the surrounding environment. 3. Methodology 3.1. Role of the informal sector in SWM The informal sector is a way of doing things, which is characterized by easy entry, reliance on indigenous resources, family ownership, small-scale operation, labor intensiveness, adapted
803
technology, skills acquired outside the formal school system, and an unregulated and competitive market (ILO Kenya report cited in Bromley, 1979). Most of the time informal sector activities are largely ignored, rarely supported, and sometimes actively discouraged by governments (Bromley, 1979). Estimation of the informal sector’s role was synthesized from secondary data. Links among several actors were determined by studying the flow of materials. Actor means groups of people that are involved in SWM. A material flow analysis was developed to see the contribution of each category of actors. A material flow analysis is a systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of materials within the system defined in a certain space and time (Brunner and Rechberger, 2003). The material flow model that was used in this paper can be written as:
+ +
mi,street waste pickers +
mi,itinerant buyers + mi,municipal staff =
mi,landfill scavengers
mi,TPS scavengers
mi,large-scale enterprises
(1)
where mi,street waste pickers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by street waste pickers; mi,landfill scavengers = potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by landfill scavengers; mi,itinerant buyers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by itinerant buyers; an itinerant buyer is a scavenger who collects waste door to door, and it is different from a middleman; mi,TPS scavengers : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by temporary storage site scavengers; mi,municipal staff : potential recyclable materials (i) from waste is collected by municipal staff; mi,large-scale enterprises : potential recyclable material (i) from waste is collected by large-scale enterprises prior to selling them to manufacturers. It is assumed that no street waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, or municipal staffs sell the potential recyclable materials that are collected, directly to manufacturers. Before the recyclable materials are sent to large-scale enterprises, several paths might be possible. However, Eq. (1) shows no intermediate flows to dealers or to small-scale enterprises since recyclable materials will eventually be sold to large-scale enterprises. Scavengers, municipal staff, and itinerant buyers may sell recyclable materials directly to dealers or to enterprises. In this case, the paths are not accounted for according to the principle of material balance and to avoid double calculation:
mi,input =
mi,output
(2)
where mi,input : potential recyclable material (i) enters flow; mi,output : potential recyclable material (i) leaves flow. Eq. (2) shows that the model should follow a material balance constraint. The material balance constraint is based on the material balance theorem, which states that the amount of incoming quantity of materials should equal the amount of outgoing quantity of materials. In this model, the amount of recovered material collected by street waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, and municipal staff should equal the amount of recovered material collected by large-scale enterprises. The application of the model used secondary data, e.g., several reports, which were then arranged and combined according to the needs of this paper. However, to find which recyclable materials can be used as indicators of informal recycling, primary data were used in this study. Approximately 525 household questionnaires were administered in the city of Bandung. The household questionnaires consist of three parts. Part 1 is general information about respondents. Part 2 is major concerns
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Fig. 1. Waste generation per district in Bandung city.
about urban environmental management. Part 3 is households’ solid waste service and behavior. For the purpose of this paper, only the third part of the questionnaire was analyzed. Third part results plus some secondary data were used to calculate the total contribution of all the actors. 3.2. Decision makers’ perception on the informal sector To determine the perception of decision makers about the informal sector, interviews were conducted using a structural questionnaire. Top and middle management officers of municipal offices, politicians, non-governmental organizations (NGO) workers, and academic experts involved in SWM in Bandung were surveyed. The population of each group of respondents was estimated by using both lists of published groups and organizational structure. Organizational structure was used for municipal officers. For NGOs, politicians, and academic experts, lists of published NGOs, parties, and universities/institutes were used. Only organizations/universities/institutes and NGOs that have been specifically involved in solid waste and environmental programs/issues were included (Table 2). The questionnaire for decision makers consists of two parts. Part 1 relates to background information regarding the respondents and how they are involved in making SWM decision. Part 2 reveals an individual ranking and level of agreements of four different scenarTable 1 Service coverage in Bandung. Source generation
• Scenario 1, integration of household composting and community composting and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 2, integration of the informal sector such as scavengers, itinerants, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 3, integration of composting, waste to energy (WTE) facilities, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. • Scenario 4, integration of the informal sector, composting, WTE facilities, and improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill. Table 2 Type of decision makers. Decision makers
Frequency
Valid percent
Politician Government Academia NGO
4 30 8 14
7.1 53.6 143 25.0
Total
56
100.0
a
Generation
Waste collected
m3 /day
m3 /day
%
Residents Tradition market and commercial area Streets and public facilities Industries
3973 925 1810 787
3063 627 479 366
76.1 67.8 26.5 46.5
Total
7500
4535
60
Source: PD Kebersihan Bandung (2007).
ios, in which the respondent was asked to evaluate the scenario on a LIKERT scale, a five-point scale from very good to very poor or from agree to disagree. The four scenarios discussed in this paper are:
Predicted populationa 10b 67c 57d >20e
Only organisation/university institute and NGO, which involved in solid waste and environment programs issues specifically are included. Only top and middle management are considered. b There are 10 parties; one respondent represents one party. c Sixty-seven officers occupy from head of office to vice head of division (wakil kepala bidarg). d Fifty-seven are total numbers of universities and higher education institute in Bandung. However, only five universities include environmental engineering and development study program. The experts from academia are far less than university numbers and lecturer numbers in the university. e Number of listed and registered environmental and development NGOs that is available in Bandung.
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805
Fig. 2. Actors and material flows of recyclable waste.
Table 3 Prediction of number of workers in informal sector of SWM. Actor
Total number of facilities/enterprises
Number of workersa
Worker in informal sector
Scavenger at TPS Scavenger at TPA Itinerant buyers Dealer Enterprises (small) Enterprises (large)
182 1 52b 18b 28b 28b
12 400 1 4 4.5 4.5
2184 400 52 72 126 81
Total a b
2915
Damanhuri et al. (2006). Numbers were taken from total number of respondents surveyed by Anastasia (2007), Dewi (2007) and Hadiana (2006).
Table 4 Type of waste that scavengers collect at households. Type
Yes (%)
No (%)
Total samples
Papers Glass Plastics Organic/food waste Metals Woods Fabric/textile Others (bottle, cardboard, etc.)
63.9 33.7 78.6 5.9 55.5 15.5 11.5 50.5
31.1 66.3 21.4 94.1 44.5 84.5 88.5 49.1
498 445 510 410 461 419 417 525
The respondents were assisted in answering the questionnaire. Only top and middle management staff were involved in this survey. The final number of respondents was 56 respondents within a 2-month survey. Difficulties included finding the right time to conduct the survey, as most of the respondents had very tight schedule. The answers were coded into discrete numerical values from one to five for basic statistical analysis. Independent sample t-test was performed to analyze the statistical significance of observed differences in answers to different scenarios.
3.3. Conceptual approach on integration of the informal sector toward an inclusive society Decision makers face a dilemma when trying to include the informal recycling in SWM. Improving the collection of waste and closing landfills to the informal recycling for safety reasons may lead to unemployment of both scavengers and waste pickers, but allowing informal recycling at a landfill may disturb the landfill’s operation. In addition, if the authority wants to accept the informal sectors, then it must also accept all consequences of this decision.
Table 5 Recyclable materials at large-scale enterprises. Recyclable materials
Total recyclable materials are captured by large enterprises (tons/day)
Possible availability of material in waste flow (tons/day)
Contribution of informal sector (%)
Plastic Metal Paper
44.52 95.96 209.97
541.84 48.65 241.43
8 Data is not valida 86%
Total
350.45
831.92
Authors calculation based on data surveyed by Hadiana (2006), Dewi (2007) and Anastasia (2007). a Data is not reliable and valid as the amount of waste captured by large enterprises is higher than possible available waste flow.
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In Bandung, for example, acceptance of the informal sector means accepting illegal inhabitants and emigrants from neighboring towns who seek economic subsistence. It also means that illegal inhabitants should be registered. Registered inhabitants have a social status and rights, which authorities must respect. More temporary slum areas will be developed, so more urban environmental services should be provided for the new registered inhabitants. This dilemma is discussed by referring to the concept of the normative theory of social exclusion and the type of capital forms. Normative theory refers to a normative framework of political theory in addressing social exclusion. Normative theory relates to value judgments about what in general should be done in society, and making the best decision among several choices. Thus, in this paper, the normative theory of social inclusion is concerned with how to make the best decision regarding inclusion of the informal sector. Finite and limited resources force policy makers to set priorities regarding social exclusion. Since there are multiple ‘bads’ and ‘goods,’ where not all can be addressed, one must make tradeoffs and use a normative classification to determine which tradeoffs are the most deserving of exclusion or inclusion. Preconditions to achieve social inclusion are discussed by pinpointing five forms of capital. 4. Results and discussion 4.1. Role of the informal sector in SWM Informal recycling in Bandung can be seen as recovering material from waste and is mostly conducted by scavengers or waste pickers. In Bandung, some municipal solid waste collection crews increase their income by recovering material from waste, but scavengers conduct the majority of the informal recycling. Scavengers treat waste as a resource for generating income. Associating scavengers with waste, a low status material, reinforces the low social status of scavengers. Thus, in this paper, scavengers or waste pickers are defined as an informal SWM system based on recovery, rather than disposal, of waste material, and who share a stigma as a result of their occupation. Based on the recyclable material flow, there are several categories of waste collectors, depending on where recycling activities take place and what activities are involved, as shown in Fig. 2: (1) Street waste pickers who collect recyclable materials from bins or waste left in the streets. (2) Temporary storage site scavengers who pick up recyclable materials from temporary storage sites (tempat pembuangan sementara, TPS). (3) Landfill site scavengers who collect recyclable materials from final disposal sites (tempat pembuangan akhir sampah, TPA). (4) Domestic servants/maids who collect recyclable materials from households, then sell them to itinerant waste buyers. (5) Itinerant waste buyers who buy recyclable materials door to door. (6) Municipal waste collection crews who segregate waste and sell to scrap dealers (lapak). (7) Small scrap dealers who buy the recyclable materials directly from scavengers or itinerants. (8) Small/large-scale enterprises (bandar) who buy recyclable materials from scrap dealers. (9) Intermediates who usually connect large-scale enterprises with manufacturers. Fig. 2 shows the economic flow among actors engaged in recovering waste material. All the actors see recovered material as resources and see a potential business in waste recycling. Fig. 2
also shows the role of informal recycling in recovering waste material. By collecting and processing waste material, scavengers benefit from selling recyclable waste. Regardless of the motivation of all actors to collect, to process, and to sell recyclable waste, the flow shows that informal recycling contributes to recovering material from waste. As per the definition of the scavenger in this paper, the scavenger sees waste as a resource to recover rather than a disposal activity, meaning that the scavenger is engaged in reducing waste. The more recovered materials are diverted from the flow, the less waste has to be disposed of. Finding the flows of recyclable materials from the informal sector is not an easy task due to its unregistered nature. Most informal recycling activities are unregistered except for some of the largescale enterprises, intermediates, and manufacturers. Therefore, the total population may only be determined by approximation. Nonetheless, an approximation of its contribution can be drawn from model prediction. It was estimated that at least 2915 people worked in the informal sector in SWM in Bandung in 2006 (Table 3). Based on a survey of 525 Bandung households between February and May 2008, the type of waste collected by scavengers is summarized in Table 4. One of the questions centered on what type of waste scavengers pick up at the household level. Based on the answers, the contribution of the informal sector was drawn from three recyclable materials, namely paper, plastics and metals. The reason for choosing those three types of recyclable materials was that they are mostly likely to eventually enter the recycled market, as confirmed by their higher percentages of possible waste being collected by the scavengers. The total contribution of the informal recycling to the final market before entering manufacturing or large enterprises was examined using Eq. (1). If the model is valid, it should fit into Eq. (2), the constraint of model. For example, the total plastic waste collected by waste pickers, landfill scavengers, itinerant buyers, TPS scavengers, and municipal staff was 44.5 metric tons/day. The total plastics waste collected by large-scale enterprises approximately equaled 44.5 metric tons/day. The total possible available plastics waste in Bandung was 541.8 ton/day. In this case, the 44.5 metric tons/day of plastic captured by informal recycling was less than the total possible available plastic generated in Bandung, meaning that it followed the prediction. It was estimated that at least 350 metric tons of recyclable paper, plastics, and metals are captured by the informal sector (Table 5). However, there are some discrepancies in the data. For example, the total amount of recyclable materials captured by large-scale enterprises was larger than the amount generated. Recyclable metals were predicted as the total possible metals available in waste, in this case 48 metric tons/day. Thus, it was more likely that the informal sector captured 303 metric tons/day of recyclable paper, plastics, and metals. 4.2. Decision makers’ perception of the informal sector Knowing the contribution of informal sector in diverting recyclable materials from the waste stream is not enough to set policy related to this matter. To convince authorities and politicians is a major challenge. Currently, public policies toward the informal sector are generally negative. By looking at the genesis of policy related to SWM, it is understandable why these policies are largely negative. They have been traditionally driven by the need to control public health and the environmental consequences of inadequate SWM (Medina, 2000; Wilson et al., 2006). This is also shown in the latest act related to SWM in Indonesia. According to Act No. 18, 2008, article 4: “solid waste management
E. Sembiring, V. Nitivattananon / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 54 (2010) 802–809 Table 8 One-way-ANOVA analysis of gender differences to rank scenarios.
Table 6 Gender distribution of respondents. Type of decision makers
807
Gender of decision makers Male
Female
Total
Politician Government Academia NGOs
3 20 6 12
1 10 2 2
4 30 8 14
Total
41
15
56
Scenario
F
Significance
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Scenario 4
0.982 1.495 0.291 0.324
0.326 0.227 0.592 0.571
Table 9 Independent t-test for equality of means.
aims to improve both public health and environmental quality as well as to make waste as resources.” Meanwhile, the informal sector is always associated with unhygienic environment and risk to public health. Some authorities are embarrassed by the presence of scavengers in their city. Most of the time scavengers live in slum areas close to the dumpsites. These slum areas are more likely to expand because more peasants from neighboring towns come to the cities looking for work. The following discussion shows the perception and attitude of decision makers toward the informal sector in SWM. The gender distribution of respondents can be seen in Table 6, and the descriptive figure of opinions of each group toward the scenarios can be seen in Fig. 3. Scenario 1, integration of household and community composting and the improvement from open dumping to sanitary landfill, was found to be the most preferred scenario, as shown by the lowest mean score. The lowest mean score means that the scenario is preferred over other scenarios. This is shown in the last two rankings of scenarios. Adding WTE facilities to otherwise identical scenarios increased the mean score from 1.79 to 2.39; thus, adding WTE facilities decreased the scenario’s popularity (Table 7). There was no statistical difference among male and female respondents toward all scenarios, including integration of the informal sector (scenario 2). The analysis was based on one-way ANOVA analysis to compare gender mean (as factor) with scenario rank (as dependent variable). The results showed that significant value was
Independent sample t-test
df
Significance (two-tailed)
Scenario 1 and 2 Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed
110 109.537
0.001 0.001
greater than 0.05, meaning that, statistically, gender differences had no impact on scenario rank (Table 8). Statistically, decision makers preferred integrating the composting technologies to integrating the informal sector. Based on the independent sample t-test, comparing the mean scores of scenarios 1 and 2 shows a significant difference between their ranks (the significance of 0.001 is less than 0.05, see also Table 9). Therefore, statistically decision makers significantly preferred integrating the composting to integrating the informal sector. Comparing scenarios 3 and 4 by independent sample t-test shows no significant difference between mean scores. This differs from the t-test between scenarios 1 and 2. In other words, by adding the WTE facility into the scenario, statistically, there is no difference between integrating composting and the informal sector. A strong negative attitude toward WTE facilities among all stakeholders in Bandung may be the reason. The least preferable scenario shows less acceptance of the informal sector. The authors suspect that this is due to prejudice. However, because of its limitation, this study does not explore why decision makers prefer the composting to integration of the informal sector.
Fig. 3. Opinion of each group toward scenarios.
Table 7 Mean, median score and final ranking of scenarios, based on respondent’s valuation on mean score. Scenario
Valid
Mean
Median
Variance
Ranking (based on mean score)
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Scenario 4
56 56 56 56
1.79 2.27 2.39 2.52
2.00 2.00 2.00 2.50
0.608 1.000 1.370 1.381
1 2 3 4
808
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Medina (2000) and Wilson et al. (2006) reported a similar prejudice, that the attitude toward the informal sector was often negative. Drackner (2005) made it clearer by arguing that as the informal sector in SWM was associated with waste, and waste is seen as a risk to public health and environment, the subjective perception affects local management systems. Based on these findings, breaking down the barriers to integrating the informal sector into SWM is the major challenge. 4.3. Conceptual approach to integrating the informal sector toward an inclusive society This paper shows that the informal sector plays a significant role in diverting recyclable materials from waste. However, these findings will not directly change the negative perception of decision makers toward this sector. Decision makers have a dilemma with integrating the informal sector. For example, one of respondents was concerned about operational problems that would be caused by involving the informal sector (C. Iskandar,2 2008, personal communication, June 18). However, no action was conducted as a result, as the PD Kebersihan Bandung continued to allow informal sector activities at the Sari Mukti landfill site. Other respondents were concerned about the additional cost of involving informal recycling (S. Wangsatmadja,3 2008, personal communication, June 13). In addition to those conversations, although most current personal communication was conducted out of curiosity, the authors asked the same question of the Director of Environmental Sanitation Development, Ministry of Public Works in Indonesia at the Inaugural meeting of the regional 3R forum in Asia, on November 11, 2009, in Tokyo. According to Susmono, the involvement of the informal sector needs additional cost (Susmono, 2009, personal communication, November 11). This is one of the reasons why integrating the informal sector in SWM is still a major challenge in developing countries. The authors propose a conceptual approach in dealing with the issue on integrating the informal sector in SWM. The conceptual approach refers to five forms of capital, namely financial, physical, human, public infrastructure, and social capital, as a precondition of social inclusion. To understand the conceptual approach, the discussion starts by exploring why the informal sector is excluded from SWM and why it is hard to integrate this sector into SWM. Social exclusion is a process by which certain groups are discriminated against based on class, status, identity, condition, or disadvantages. Similarly, the informal sector is socially excluded from SWM because of discrimination against status, condition, or disadvantages. Even though the informal sector is not necessarily the poorest of the poor, negative attitudes and perceptions weaken the social status of scavengers. This statement also applies to the lowest level of hierarchy in the informal recycling; the waste pickers and scavengers are not the poorest of the poor. Social exclusion of the informal sector can be understood by looking at the genesis of social exclusion and social choice theory. Social choice theory explains the normative framework used to understand how decision makers address social exclusion. The framework begins from the need of policy makers to set priorities among other policies within finite resources. Most of the time, SWM is the last priority in local government budgets.
2 At the time of interview in 2008, he was the former technical and operational director of PD Kebersihan Bandung. He is currently the chief director of PD Kebersihan Bandung. 3 Currently the head of Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), West Java. At the time of the interview, he was the former head division in EPA, West Java.
Fig. 4. Cycle of capital existence in integration of informal sector toward inclusive society.
In Indonesia, for example, the SWM budget is between 0.5% and 4.0% of the total local government budget (Ministry of Environment, 2005). Moreover, the authorities believe that accepting the informal sectors into SWM will require more resources to overcome public health concerns and environmental consequences. With limited resources, it is difficult for authorities to adopt any policy requiring additional cost, such as involving the informal sector into SWM. However, this perception has never been studied thoroughly. Is it true that formalizing the informal sector in SWM will make waste collection more inefficient and ineffective, or is it the other way around? Therefore, a study of the consequences of formalizing the informal sectors is needed. Past policy shows that if the authority tries to change the occupations of scavengers to improve their livelihoods, it will fail to improve their livelihoods (Medina, 2000; Wilson et al., 2006). Therefore, finding what the scavengers need is more important than what the authority wants. Besides, it needs a new approach to integrate the informal sector. The authors propose a compromise solution to this dilemma by referring to five forms of capital, which affect the prosperity and poverty. Financial, physical, and public infrastructure capitals are tangible, whereas human and social capitals are intangible. Financial capital is the financial assets available. Physical capital is physical assets such as property, land, or machines. Public infrastructure capital comprises schools, hospitals, roads, and drains. Human capital relates to individual skills, abilities, training, or education. Social capital includes norms, value, rules, and networks. In order to raise prosperity, all of those capitals should exist. The authors argue that before integrating the informal sector into SWM system, the first step is to increase the ability of the informal sector to add value to collected materials. When the value is increased, the price of materials increases, ceteris paribus. When income increases, then the informal sector can provide individual services and improve their living condition, as well as get social acceptance from other inhabitants of the city. In other words, while increasing financial capital through human capital and social capital, increasing the other capitals such as physical and public infrastructure can also be achieved. At this point, authors agree with Baud et al. (2001) that quality of life in SWM can be improved by strengthening the partnership or “alliance.” Medina (2000) and Gutberlet (2008) described the successful story of a recycling cooperative to improve the human
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quality of life. At the beginning, the partnership increase both human and social capital, then, in turn, financial capital and the other capitals. The concept of this approach is summarized in Fig. 4. Cooperation between the informal sector and the formal sector can be part of the solution in SWM. In line with both decentralization and reducing the role of public authorities in services and infrastructure, integrating the informal sector as privatization of part of the services in SWM can be one solution. Similar findings were also proposed by Ojeda-Benitez et al. (2002) in Mexicali, Mexico. The policy implication of those findings is to allow the integration of the informal sector into SWM. However, some preconditions should be achieved before allowing further involvement. The highlighted precondition in this paper is the availability of partnership and alliance. Partnerships may induce both human and social capitals, which in turn may increase the accumulation of other capitals such as financial, physical, and public infrastructure. The accumulation of tangible capitals and the increase of intangible capitals may in turn reduce social stigma against informal recycling. 5. Conclusions The informal sector plays a significant role in diverting recyclable materials from waste. In Bandung city more than 2915 people were involved in the informal sector of SWM. At least 13% (by weight) of waste generated in Bandung city was collected by the informal sector. However, this material flow evidence has not directly changed the perception of decision makers toward the informal sector. The least preferred scenario of integrating the informal sector reveals that decision makers have a negative perception toward the informal sector. The authors argue that convincing decision makers to move from prejudice to a positive engagement such as integration of the informal sector into the formal sector is still a major challenge. Therefore, it is recommended that the re-organization of economic, social, and environmental benefits from the informal recycling should be investigated thoroughly so that their implications can be well understood. Integrating the informal sector into SWM is not an easy task. Decision makers face dilemmas in integrating the informal sector. On the one side, the informal sector contributed to SWM but still requires basic service needs and social rights. On the other side, improving collection and technology will limit the contribution of the informal sector. Several steps should be conducted to overcome this dilemma. The first step is changing the perception of decision makers about the contribution of the informal sector. The second step will be strengthening the partnership among actors involved in the informal sector. Partnerships may induce both human and social capitals, which in turn may increase the accumulation of other capitals such as financial, physical, and public infrastructure. Accumulation of tangible capitals and increases in tangible capitals may in turn reduce the social stigma against the informal sector.
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