Federal University of Technology - Paraná. Av 7 de setembro 3165, CEP 80230-910 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
Center for Environmental Studies and Research (NEPAM), Institute of Philosophy and Humanities, University of Campinas. Rua dos Flamboyants, 155, Cidade Universitária, Campinas, CEP 13.083-867, São Paulo, Brazil.
Waste Manag. 2019 Nov;99:79-89. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.08.023. Epub 2019 Aug 29.
The world population is becoming more urbanized, wealthier but also more wasteful. The resolution of the problem of ever increasing amounts of solid waste is not yet a priority in many developing countries where informal organization has managed to partially tackle the problem. In this article we explore the interface between formal and informal waste management in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The aim of this article is to comparatively evaluate the main challenges of urban solid waste management for the BRICS from an institutional point of view. Based on a literature review, interviews with experts on the BRICS and a search for relevant legislation and formal institutions, evidence of informal institutions and the informal economy's role following New Institutional Economics was considered. The results indicate that while in Brazil and South Africa there is a state incentive to formalize scavenging for more efficient outcomes, Russia shows a significant blind-spot on the issue, China apparently awaits a technological solution to the problem, and India's cultural, ethnic and caste-based divide of society make recent policies aimed at improving waste pickers' conditions challenging to enforce. This research has shown that it is not as much an issue of enforcement of the (often recent) legislations, but rather one of cultural and informal organizational factors, that play into the issue of continued problems concerning waste management. For achieving waste management policy goals, we suggest a more open multi-stakeholder approach to the inclusion of informal organizations in public waste management.
世界人口正变得更加城市化、更加富裕，但也更加浪费。在许多发展中国家，解决日益增长的固体废物问题尚未成为优先事项，在这些国家，非正规组织已经设法部分解决了这个问题。本文探讨了金砖国家（巴西、俄罗斯、印度、中国和南非）正式和非正式废物管理之间的接口。本文的目的是从制度角度比较评估金砖国家城市固体废物管理的主要挑战。基于文献综述、对金砖国家专家的访谈以及对相关立法和正式机构的搜索，考虑了新制度经济学中的非正式制度和非正式经济的作用的证据。结果表明，尽管巴西和南非有鼓励正规收集以提高效率的激励措施，但俄罗斯在这个问题上存在明显的盲点，中国显然在等待技术解决方案，印度社会的文化、种族和种姓差异使得最近旨在改善拾荒者条件的政策难以执行。这项研究表明，问题不在于执行（通常是最近的）立法，而是文化和非正式组织因素，这些因素影响了废物管理持续存在问题。为了实现废物管理政策目标，我们建议采取更加开放的多利益相关者方法，将非正式组织纳入公共废物管理。
