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WEHENPOHL , G. KOLB, M. The Economical impact of the informal sector in solid waste management in developing countries. in Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, 1-5 October 2007, S.Margherita di Pula - Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, 2007     The informal sector in solid waste management plays an important role, especially with respect to recycling activities. Usually, studies deal with the social aspects of informal waste sector workers, but very few is known about the economical impact. In this respect, a lately completed study focusing on the economic effects of the informal waste sector makes a strong case for local authorities to assign increased responsibility for recycling to the informal waste sector.   Unexpectedly wide differences were found between formal sector recycling, which has high capital costs and low recovery rates, and parallel informal sector activities, with very low costs, low energy usage, and relatively high recovery. The study includes case studies from Lima (Peru), Cairo (Egypt), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Quezon City (Philippines), Lusaka (Zambia), and Pune, (India), suggesting that there is room for innovative cross-financing that would integrate informal sector entrepreneurs into the modernisation process, improving the lives and working conditions of waste pickers and their families.  The study, financed by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste in Low and Middle Income Countries (CWG) uses a material balance-process flow methodology to analyse materials flows and costs for the six cities.  Read the article ... 