In, Out or Beyond? Waste Pickers and Policy Networks: A Story from Jardim Gramacho (Rio de Janeiro)

As circularity is momentous, waste-picker communities all around the world are getting noticed. Brazil is at the forefront of waste-picker community inclusion, recognizing, by law, waste-pickers as professionals who must be part of waste management. This level of institutionalization is the result of a political struggle within the national waste policy network over more than twenty years. Understanding these political relations is key to recognising the role of waste-pickers and making the case for justice in the circularity discourse and practices. This research presents the result of an extended case study of over seven years duration conducted by the author on the community of Jardim Gramacho, in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region. Building upon the policy network theory, this paper first maps the policy community and the issue network of waste governance. Second, through a thematic analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews, core themes are identified. These themes depict the waste-picker community beyond a paternalistic reading recognizing their agency and identifying a plurality of roles waste-pickers are playing in the waste policy community, among them the role of institutional stewards. In the conclusion, a research agenda is outlined, highlighting the need for transdisciplinarity in doing research with waste-pickers.