Solid Waste Management and Recycling

ISA BAUD

CHAPTER 6

REUSE,RECOVERY AND RECYCLING OF URBAN INORGANIC

SOLID WASTE;MODALITIES,COMMODITY CHAINS AND

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

6.1. INTRODUCTION

In the second part of this book, the focus is on inorganic solid waste reuse, recovery

and recycling^1. Trade and recycling activities, and the use of secondary materials by

enterprises as sources of raw materials for production, is widespread in many devel-

oping countries, although it varies by region. The importance of making solid waste

management^2 more environmentally sustainable by increasing waste minimisation,

reuse, recovery and recycling by the private sector is well recognised in industrialised

countries. Discussions in developing countries, in contrast, have centred on co-opera-

tion between governments and civil society organisations in promoting recycling

activities and have largely ignored the existing private sector in this area. If new initi-

atives lead to reduced access to waste by existing recyclers, the economic viability of

private sector activities may be endangered (Blore, 2000). In contrast, CBO activities

are often dependent on the volunteer work of community groups, and are not econom-

ically viable.

In this chapter, we will briefly discuss the different perspectives on waste recovery and

recycling which have guided policy makers, and how the socio-economic, public

health and environmental perspectives can be integrated for the transition to sustain-

able development. Secondly, existing modalities of private sector recovery and recy-

cling will be briefly reviewed and contrasted with public sector-community initiatives

in this area. Thirdly, we will briefly map the partnerships between the various actors

involved and their potential contributions to aspects of sustainable development, as

laid down in our model (see also Baud et al., 2001).

1. The main emphasis will be on waste recovery and recycling that takes place through a ‘market’, rather
   than the reuse taking place within households.


2. The waste included here is municipal solid waste and waste that would generally go into the municipal
   waste stream, and does not include waste materials from production that companies sell directly to
   other companies for further transformation.

115

I. Baud et al. (eds.), Solid Waste Management and Recycling, 115-131.
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.