Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engneering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa.
Groundwork, 8 Gough Road, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 11;19(20):12986. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192012986.
Informal waste pickers in cities across the Global South divert significant amounts of tonnage from landfills. This diversion contributes towards a sustainable environment and better public health practices. Informal workers globally derive livelihoods from collecting, sorting, and selling recyclable waste. In South Africa, there is growing recognition of the valuable work that waste pickers carry out. Despite this, however, these informal workers remain largely unrecognised, are often stigmatised, and suffer from a lack of social protection linked to their work. This lack of recognition and protection creates specific occupational hazards for waste pickers. Using an ethnographic method, this study explores the physical and socio-psychological hazards that emerge from waste picking on the streets of the inner city of Durban, in South Africa. We found that the waste pickers, the majority of whom were women, developed mitigation strategies against these risks. A better understanding of how the occupational hazards of waste picking are shaped by the local context of working on the street enables the recognition of the knowledge waste pickers already hold regarding mitigation strategies. Insight into occupational hazards are important to consider if the municipal integration of waste pickers is to happen in a way that ensures access to social protections for these informal workers.
在全球南方的城市中，非正规的拾荒者从垃圾填埋场中转移了大量的垃圾。这种转移有助于实现可持续的环境和更好的公共卫生实践。全球范围内的非正式工人从收集、分类和销售可回收废物中获得生计。在南非，人们越来越认识到拾荒者所做的有价值的工作。然而，尽管如此，这些非正式工人仍然在很大程度上未被认可，经常受到污名化，并因与工作相关的缺乏社会保护而受苦。这种缺乏认可和保护给拾荒者带来了特定的职业危害。本研究采用民族志方法，探讨了在南非德班市中心街头拾荒所产生的身体和社会心理危害。我们发现，拾荒者（大多数是女性）制定了针对这些风险的缓解策略。更好地了解在街头工作的当地背景如何塑造拾荒者的职业危害，使人们认识到拾荒者已经掌握的关于缓解策略的知识。如果要以确保这些非正式工人获得社会保护的方式实现将拾荒者纳入市政的目标，了解职业危害是很重要的。
