Towards an inclusive society and solid waste management system: Revealing waste pickers’ life preference and satisfaction in Indonesia

Abstract To realize an inclusive society, limited understanding of waste pickers’ preferences, alongside the absence of a consistent method for assessing those preferences and their variations, has constrained policy design to support them. This study introduces a combined approach using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the Cantril Ladder, and Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to examine Indonesian waste pickers’ priorities and their perceived satisfaction across seven life aspects. The findings suggest that, overall, waste pickers place greatest emphasis on their children’s education and on work safety, and report relatively high satisfaction for these life aspects. However, distinct patterns emerge, grouping waste pickers into three classes: (1) those oriented towards food security and sanitation; (2) those whose priorities reflect the general pattern but who report low satisfaction; and (3) those who share the general priorities but express high satisfaction. These differences show that a single, uniform policy is unlikely to be appropriate. Instead, interventions should be aligned with the needs of each class. By applying the methods and insights from this study, policies aimed at improving waste pickers’ living conditions and strengthening waste management systems (i.e., formalization of waste pickers) can be designed with greater precision and effectiveness.