International Waste Chains: Tracing the Supply Chain from Formal Waste Collection to Informal Waste Processing

On June 18, the Penn Forum on Urban Informality launched its 2021 Summer eSeminar Series with a session on urban waste management and informality. The first guest speaker, Silpa Kaza, Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank, presented an overview of the scale of the waste management challenge, how it relates to urban informality, and what the World Bank does in relation to it. The discussion following her presentation touched on how integral the informal sector is to waste management in both the Global South and North, the role of unions and collectives, and the pros and cons of formalization among waste pickers. The second speaker was Dagna Rams, a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in Switzerland and visiting fellow at NYU and the Max Planck Institute. Her presentation focused on electronic waste processors in Ghana, their financial networks and commodity chains, and the hazards that they face. Following her presentation, she answered question from attendees on collectivization, alternate employment opportunities for scrap dealers, and other topics.

See the presentation slides at the links below:

• A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management – Silpa Kaza
• International Waste Chains in Ghana – Dagna Rams