The myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Town
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
Waste pickers are widely acknowledged as an integral part of the formal and informal economy, diverting
waste into the secondary resource economy through urban mining. Urban mining in itself is considered
to be a source of livelihoods. We investigated the livelihoods of e-waste pickers through 110 surveys in
Cape Town, South Africa. Waste pickers often indicated that they were engaged in the sector not by choice
but by necessity, expressing that earning money is the only enjoyable aspect of their job. The results from
the study substantiate that it is unlikely that waste pickers could survive on e-waste picking alone as 83.3%
of reported incomes were below minimum wage, with 22.9% below the food poverty line. Thus, the majority
of waste pickers collected a wide array of recyclables. We also found that the waste pickers in Cape Town
engage in multiple e-waste related activities, including collection, dismantling and processing to a lesser
extent.
Description
Keywords
Informal sector, Sustainable livelihoods, Informal jobs, Recycling, Cape Town
Citation
Chitaka, T. Y. et al. (2022). The myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Town. South African Journal of Science, 118, 12456. https:// doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2022/12456