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Waste Pickers Perceptions among Households in Cosmo City, South Africa

Mphaka DL and Moja SJ

The study was conducted in Cosmo City, South Africa. In Cosmo City the low, middle and high income communities live together and share common social resources like schools, churches, shopping centres and recreational facilities. A sample of 500 households was selected randomly from a total population of 12 300 households, with a response rate of 81% (404 households). The specific objectives were to establish the relationship between household’s willingness to separate waste from source and household’s perceptions about waste pickers. The results showed that most households who are not willing to separate waste from source tend to support the incorporation of waste pickers into the waste management system, believe that incorporation of waste pickers will create jobs and support the regulation of waste pickers. The same trend was also noticed for households who were willing to separate waste from source. The design of municipal recycling programs and policies should take the local context into consideration including perceptions of all stakeholders, informal waste pickers and households.