The true cost of solving the plastic waste challenge in developing countries: The case of Ghana
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Cleaner Production
Abstract
Mismanaged plastic waste is a major environmental concern, especially in countries of the Global South.
Municipal solid waste management can not only alleviate environmental problems but also create jobs and
promote local economic growth. However, providing appropriate waste management services is costly. The
question is to what extent waste management policies that have proven to be successful in other geographies can
help solve the challenge in developing countries. Specifically, the economics and financial flows along the value
chain need to be known. In this paper, we shed light on these questions by presenting a novel, model-based
method to elicit and assess the cost structure of the recycling sector in developing countries. We exemplify
our method with plastic waste management in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana—an area particularly challenged by plastic waste. For this purpose, we surveyed over 80 participants of the waste management value chain
and combined the data with insights from expert interviews and workshops. Based on this data, we built a
bottom-up model with 67 parameters, reflecting all cost positions in the waste management value chain. We
found that street waste pickers are the poorest and most vulnerable, earning only a fraction of the already low
minimum wage. Middlemen and aggregators, while often being criticized for their earnings, also provide social security-like services to waste pickers. In addition, formal and informal recyclers differ not only in earnings and
size but also in recycled quality, where the informal sector provides higher quality.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Plastic recycling, Circular economy, Sustainable development