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Unleashing waste-pickers potential: supporting recycling cooperatives in Santiago de Chile

Author

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  • Navarrete-Hernández, Pablo
  • Navarrete-Hernandez, Nicolas

Abstract

The informal economy currently provides two out of three jobs worldwide, with waste-picking activities providing employment for millions of the poorest of society. Moreover, waste-picking could provide a sustainable solution for solving the waste management crisis that affects the 3 billion people lacking access to waste services. Governmental policies toward waste-pickers in particular, and the informal economy in general, have been fundamentally based on four policy approaches: (1) dualist and voluntarist, which proposes repressive policies against waste-picker activity and the expansion of formal solid waste management systems; (2) structuralist, which argues for weak supporting policies aimed at reinforcing waste-picker associations; (3) legalist, which promotes the competition of waste-picking with other recycling alternatives without government intervention; and (4) co-production, which supports waste-picking with local policies as a means of enhancing waste-pickers’ productivity. Both qualitative, and particularly quantitative evidence testing the impact of these four approaches is scarce. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap in the literature by operationalizing concepts, building a waste-picker sustainable performance index, and estimating the impacts of these four competing policy approaches. An exploratory sequential design method is used to analyze data: first, a thematic analysis to examine 40 in-depth interviews, and then multiple linear regressions to analyze a census survey of 100 waste-pickers in four cooperatives in Santiago de Chile. Our empirical results suggest a positive association between the level of government support and waste-pickers’ sustainable performance. Consequently, further positive government intervention, particularly in supporting a stronger structural organization for the waste-picker recycling system, is advocated as the primary policy recommendation of this paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Navarrete-Hernández, Pablo & Navarrete-Hernandez, Nicolas, 2018. "Unleashing waste-pickers potential: supporting recycling cooperatives in Santiago de Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 85730, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:85730
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/85730/
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Barford & Saffy Rose Ahmad, 2021. "A Call for a Socially Restorative Circular Economy: Waste Pickers in the Recycled Plastics Supply Chain," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 761-782, September.
    2. Crystal Kwan & Ho-Chung Tam, 2022. "Leaving No One behind in Healthy Ageing: A Unique Sub-Group, the “Cardboard Grannies of Hong Kong”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-22, August.
    3. María José Zapata Campos & Sebastián Carenzo & Goodluck Charles & Jutta Gutberlet & Jaan-Henrik Kain & Michael O Oloko & Jessica Pérez Reynosa & Patrik Zapata, 2023. "Grassroots innovations in ‘extreme’ urban environments. The inclusive recycling movement," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(2), pages 351-374, March.
    4. Zapata, Patrik & Kain, Jaan-Henrik & Campos, María José Zapata & Carenzo, Sebastian & Oloko, Michael & Otieno, Silas & Chweya, John Xavier, 2026. "Circular economy and gendered antagonism in the Global South: The Kambuta fish market in Kisumu, Kenya," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    5. Ogboeli Goodluck Prince & Edim Ekpenyong Edim & Gospel Chimenma Dimkpa & Priscilia Nyekpunwo Ogbonda & Urombo Rosemary Ataenewan, 2025. "Challenges and Prospects of Metal Scavenging as a Strategy for Waste Reduction in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(4), pages 5805-5825, April.
    6. Trujillo, Francisca & Chávez, Carlos & Jaime, Marcela & Salazar, César, 2025. "Households' preferences for door-to-door recycling service: A choice experiment in southern Chile," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    7. Juliette F. Bermudez & Ana M. Montoya-Ruiz & Juan F. Saldarriaga, 2019. "Assessment of the Current Situation of Informal Recyclers and Recycling: Case Study Bogotá," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Jean Pierre Doussoulin & Cristian Colther, 2022. "Evaluating the Efficiency of Municipal Solid Waste Collection Services in Developing Countries: The Case of Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Granados, Maria L. & Rosli, Ainurul & Gotsi, Manto, 2022. "Staying poor: Unpacking the process of barefoot institutional entrepreneurship failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(3).

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    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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