The myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Town

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dc.contributor.authorChitaka, Takunda Y.
dc.contributor.authorMoyo, Thandazile
dc.contributor.authorGihring, Katharina
dc.date.accessioned2022-09-28T13:15:59Z
dc.date.available2022-09-28T13:15:59Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractWaste 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.en_US
dc.identifier.citationChitaka, 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.2022/12456en_US
dc.identifier.issn1996-7489
dc.identifier.urihttps:// doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2022/12456
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/7982
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherAcademy of Science of South Africaen_US
dc.subjectInformal sectoren_US
dc.subjectSustainable livelihoodsen_US
dc.subjectInformal jobsen_US
dc.subjectRecyclingen_US
dc.subjectCape Townen_US
dc.titleThe myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Townen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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