IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v58y2012icp152-162.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Scavengers and their role in the recycling of waste in Southwestern Lahore

Author

Listed:
  • Asim, Muhammad
  • Batool, Syeda Adila
  • Chaudhry, Muhammad Nawaz

Abstract

This study deals with the scavengers and their role in the recycling of waste in Southern Lahore. Data was gathered from 325 different scavengers, junkshops and middlemen. Waste generation rate in Allama Iqbal town is 0.80kg per capita per day. In researched area and other cities of Pakistan there is no formal sorting of waste and this activity is mainly in the hands of informal sector of which scavengers are major stakeholders. Korreywalas, Pheriwalas, waste pickers, street pickers and dumpsite pickers are different types of scavengers. Scavengers have different socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics. Males and females of all ages, poor refugees, migrants and minorities are involved in the recovery of waste recyclables. Pheriwalas purchase recyclable items form the household and shops and all other scavengers recover the recyclable items directly from waste. All scavengers sell recyclables to junkshop dealers or contractors, which resell these to middlemen or recycling industries. Most of the recyclable materials consists of variety of paper, cardboard, metal scrap, plastics, pet bottles, dry breads, heals of shoes, bones, etc. The price of an item depends on its quality or agreement among scavengers and contractors. The earnings of scavengers depend on the recovered amounts of recyclables from the waste or purchasing from the households and the quality of recyclable items. The estimated total amount of recyclable material recovered by all the scavengers working in the area is about 525tons per month, which generate an income of US$ 30,875 per month. They are poor, suffer harassment from officials and face health and safety problems during the work. Despite of their low economic and social status, scavengers are making important environmental and economic contributions. Scavengers not only reduce the waste but also supply secondary materials to recycling industry, save the expenditures of SWMD in sweeping, transportation and disposing of waste. The overall impact of activities of scavengers is positive economically and environmentally. Of the various categories of scavengers household waste collection system run by Korreywalas is the best. This can be improved further if government or organized private sector helps them by organizing them, providing them medical and health facilities, PPEs and financial incentives.

Suggested Citation

  • Asim, Muhammad & Batool, Syeda Adila & Chaudhry, Muhammad Nawaz, 2012. "Scavengers and their role in the recycling of waste in Southwestern Lahore," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 152-162.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:58:y:2012:i:c:p:152-162
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.10.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344911002242
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2011.10.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suttibak, Samonporn & Nitivattananon, Vilas, 2008. "Assessment of factors influencing the performance of solid waste recycling programs," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 45-56.
    2. Sembiring, Emenda & Nitivattananon, Vilas, 2010. "Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 802-809.
    3. Gutberlet, Jutta, 2008. "Empowering collective recycling initiatives: Video documentation and action research with a recycling co-op in Brazil," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 659-670.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sasaki, Shunsuke & Araki, Tetsuya & Tambunan, Armansyah Halomoan & Prasadja, Heru, 2014. "Household income, living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers in Bantar Gebang: Toward integrated waste management in Indonesia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 11-21.
    2. Aryampa, Shamim & Maheshwari, Basant & Sabiiti, Elly N. & Bateganya, Najib L. & Olobo, Christopher, 2022. "Understanding the impacts of waste disposal site closure on the livelihood of local communities in africa: A case study of the kiteezi landfill in Kampala, Uganda," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    3. Mizanur Rahman, S.M. & Mayer, Audrey L., 2015. "How social ties influence metal resource flows in the Bangladesh ship recycling industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 254-264.
    4. Davis, John-Michael & Garb, Yaakov, 2015. "A model for partnering with the informal e-waste industry: Rationale, principles and a case study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 73-83.
    5. Fei, Fan & Qu, Lili & Wen, Zongguo & Xue, Yanyan & Zhang, Huanan, 2016. "How to integrate the informal recycling system into municipal solid waste management in developing countries: Based on a China’s case in Suzhou urban area," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 74-86.
    6. Gu, Yifan & Wu, Yufeng & Xu, Ming & Wang, Huaidong & Zuo, Tieyong, 2016. "The stability and profitability of the informal WEEE collector in developing countries: A case study of China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 18-26.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pacheco, Elen B.A.V. & Ronchetti, Luiza M. & Masanet, Eric, 2012. "An overview of plastic recycling in Rio de Janeiro," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 140-146.
    2. Do Carmo, Maria Scarlet & Puppim de Oliveira, Jose Antonio, 2010. "The Semantics of Garbage and the organization of the recyclers: Implementation challenges for establishing recycling cooperatives in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1261-1268.
    3. Yangyang Zhang & Wenfang Huang, 2021. "Analysis on the Effectiveness of the Input in Household Waste Classification of Residents—Taking S City in China as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-14, October.
    4. Sasaki, Shunsuke & Araki, Tetsuya & Tambunan, Armansyah Halomoan & Prasadja, Heru, 2014. "Household income, living and working conditions of dumpsite waste pickers in Bantar Gebang: Toward integrated waste management in Indonesia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 11-21.
    5. Prosper Owusu & Noble Banadda & Nicholas Kiggundu, 2017. "Mass Balance of Plastic Waste Conversion to Fuel Oil- A case in Uganda," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(6), pages 1-41, October.
    6. Yoshida, Aya & Terazono, Atsushi & Ballesteros, Florencio C. & Nguyen, Duc-Quang & Sukandar, Sunandar & Kojima, Michikazu & Sakata, Shozo, 2016. "E-waste recycling processes in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam: A case study of cathode ray tube TVs and monitors," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 48-58.
    7. Tong, Xin & Tao, Dongyan, 2016. "The rise and fall of a “waste city” in the construction of an “urban circular economic system”: The changing landscape of waste in Beijing," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 10-17.
    8. Lederer, Jakob & Ogwang, Francis & Karungi, Jeninah, 2017. "Knowledge identification and creation among local stakeholders in CDM waste composting projects: A case study from Uganda," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 339-352.
    9. Vásquez, Óscar C. & Álvarez, Adolfo & Silva, Julio & Muga, Alicia Pincheira, 2014. "Towards the estimation of demand for recycling in Chile: The case of Santiago," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 94-102.
    10. Sembiring, Emenda & Nitivattananon, Vilas, 2010. "Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 802-809.
    11. Izabella Almirante Porto Tiburcio Rodrigues & Roberta Vianna Alves & Maria José de Oliveira Cavalcanti Guimarães & Thiago Santiago Gomes & Elen Beatriz Acordi Vasques Pacheco, 2022. "Assessment of plastic lumber production in Brazil as a substitute for natural wood," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(8), pages 9705-9730, August.
    12. Sekito, T. & Prayogo, T.B. & Dote, Y. & Yoshitake, T. & Bagus, I., 2013. "Influence of a community-based waste management system on people's behavior and waste reduction," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 84-90.
    13. Muhammad Nawaz & Muhammad Tariq Yousafzai & Salim Khan & Wisal Ahmad & Muhammad Salman & Heesup Han & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, 2021. "Assessing the Formal and Informal Waste Recycling Business Processes through a Stakeholders Lens in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    14. Schoot Uiterkamp, Bob Jan & Azadi, Hossein & Ho, Peter, 2011. "Sustainable recycling model: A comparative analysis between India and Tanzania," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 344-355.
    15. Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova & Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri & María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero & Miguel-A. Rozo-Arango, 2022. "M-GRCT: A Dynamic Circular Economy Model for the Optimal Design of Waste Management Systems in Low-Income Municipalities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-25, February.
    16. Fidelis, Reginaldo & Ferreira, Marco Antonio & Colmenero, João Carlos, 2015. "Selecting a location to install a plastic processing center: Network of recycling cooperatives," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-8.
    17. Ming-Hui Zhou & Shui-Long Shen & Ye-Shuang Xu & An-Nan Zhou, 2019. "New Policy and Implementation of Municipal Solid Waste Classification in Shanghai, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-10, August.
    18. Keramitsoglou, Kiriaki M. & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2013. "Public participation in designing a recycling scheme towards maximum public acceptance," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 55-67.
    19. Ward, Miriam N. & Wells, Blake & Diyamandoglu, Vasil, 2014. "Development of a framework to implement a recycling program in an elementary school," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 138-146.
    20. Anupama Singh & Papia Raj, 2019. "Sustainable recycling model for municipal solid waste in Patna," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(2), pages 212-234, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:58:y:2012:i:c:p:152-162. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.