Linzner Roland, Salhofer Stefan
Institute of Waste Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Institute of Waste Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Waste Manag Res. 2014 Sep;32(9):896-907. doi: 10.1177/0734242X14543555. Epub 2014 Aug 8.
The informal sector is active in the collection, processing and trading of recyclable materials in urban China. Formal waste management organisations have established pilot schemes for source separation of recyclables, but this strategy is still in its infancy. The amounts of recyclables informally picked out of the municipal solid waste stream are unknown as informal waste workers do not record their activities. This article estimates the size and significance of the current informal recycling system with a focus on the collection of recyclables. A majority of the reviewed literature detects that official data is displaying mainly 'municipal solid waste collected and transported', whereas less information is available on 'real' waste generation rates at the source. Based on a literature review the variables, the 'number of informal waste workers involved in collection activities', the 'amounts collected daily per informal collector' and the 'number of working days' are used to estimate yearly recyclable amounts that are informally diverted from municipal solid waste. The results show an interval of approximately 0.56%-0.93% of the urban population or 3.3-5.6 million people involved in informal waste collection and recycling activities in urban China. This is the equivalent to estimated informal recycling rates of approximately 17-38 w/w% of the municipal solid waste generated. Despite some uncertainties in these assessments, it can be concluded that a significant share of recyclables is collected and processed by informal waste workers.
在中国城市，非正规部门活跃于可回收材料的收集、加工和交易。正规的废物管理组织已设立了可回收物源头分类的试点方案，但这一策略仍处于起步阶段。由于非正规废物处理工人不记录他们的活动，所以从城市固体废物流中被非正规捡出的可回收物数量未知。本文估计了当前非正规回收系统的规模和重要性，重点是可回收物的收集。大多数被查阅的文献发现，官方数据主要显示的是“收集和运输的城市固体废物”，而关于源头“实际”废物产生率的信息较少。基于文献综述，变量“参与收集活动的非正规废物处理工人数量”、“每个非正规收集者每天收集的数量”和“工作日数量”被用于估计每年从城市固体废物中被非正规转移的可回收物数量。结果显示，在中国城市，有大约0.56% - 0.93%的城市人口或330万至560万人参与非正规废物收集和回收活动。这相当于估计的非正规回收率约为城市产生的固体废物的17% - 38%（重量/重量）。尽管这些评估存在一些不确定性，但可以得出结论，很大一部分可回收物是由非正规废物处理工人收集和加工的。
