Decent work opportunities and challenges in recycling

Abstract

For millennia, recycling has been a fundamental economic activity and part of everyday life for humankind. In ancient history, economies were largely based on agriculture, waste was primarily organic, volumes considerably smaller and waste decomposed naturally. The industrial revolution brought a significant increase in waste production, including industrial and household waste. Many people, often the urban poor, made their livelihoods as informal street buyers of recyclable and reusable materials, or as waste pickers retrieving any saleable items from mixed waste. Over time, more organized waste collection services and incinerators were introduced in cities around the world. Ever since, a modern recycling industry has emerged as part of wider advances in waste management infrastructure, systems and equipment, which in many countries are managed by municipalities or local governments. At the same time, recycling comprises a highly heterogeneous and diverse range of activities across all sectors of the economy, from the manual waste-picking of plastics to digitally enabled industrial symbiosis in the pharmaceutical industry.