Abstract
In South Africa, informal waste picking forms a vital part of municipalities' waste management system and assist in diverting plastics, paper, and other recyclable materials away from landfills which are already facing a burden of waste going into them. Informal waste pickers work in isolation to the City of Ekurhuleni's waste system and work under harsh conditions and without proper tools. Literature has attempted various ways of formalising and integrating informal waste pickers, but little information is available on how such integration should take place, from the perspective of the actual waste pickers. Therefore, this study will provide such information and knowledge on how best integration can be implemented and then close the gap of lack of literature, which will then assist in informing decision makers and policy makers on how best to integrate informal waste pickers in a South African context, and also to highlight the challenges of informal waste pickers in the recycling sector and how these can be addressed.This study aims to do an assessment of the perception of informal waste pickers on being integrated into the waste management system at City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan municipality. To achieve this aim, the objectives include to explore various ways of integration and the dentification of challenges that informal waste pickers encounter as they perform their daily activities; to investigate ways by which informal waste pickers may be supported to overcome challenges to improve their recycling efficiencies and to improve their health. This study will be conducted in Germiston and Boksburg in the City of Ekurhuleni. Population of informal waste pickers in Germiston and Boksburg is estimated to be 550, sample size will be (n= 283). Participants in this study will include five (n=5) landfill operators in Rooikraal landfill site in Boksburg and five (n=5) landfill operators in Simmer and Jack landfill located in Germiston, two (n=2) officials from the Department of Environmental Resource and Waste Management, Ekurhuleni municipality, two (n=2) officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs, two (n=2) officials from GDARD. This study will collect primary data by employing quantitative (Semi-structured questionnaires) and qualitative (Interviews) methods of data collection. Literature and official documents compiled for City of Ekurhuleni will be used as secondary source of data collection. STATKON will use Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 27 to analyse collected data. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from Ethics Research committee at the University of Johannesburg, and the City of Ekurhuleni municipality in Gauteng. The outcomes of this study will determine whether or not waste pickers want to be integrated into waste management system. Recommendations to be made will contribute to individual waste pickers 'safety, zero illegal dumping.