From Margins to Circular Partners: A Pathway for Waste Picker Integration in King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality

Waste pickers play a critical yet underrecognized role in South Africa’s waste management and circular economy by recovering recyclable materials, reducing waste sent to landfills, and supporting resource recovery. Using focus groups, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, this paper evaluates the status of waste picker integration in KSD Local Municipality against the seven-step waste picker integration guidelines developed by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. The findings revealed that women constituted 67.5% of the surveyed waste pickers, while 60% had completed secondary education. Cooperative or waste picker group membership was reported by 55% of participants, and 52.5% had received training. Participants identified inadequate transport (92.5%), storage facilities (77.5%), collection equipment (67.5%), and protective gear (45%) as major operational challenges. Municipal engagement, cooperative development and training were evident, but participants said they were not fully integrated into formal waste management arrangements. Municipal documents analyzed showed commitments to recycling infrastructure and cooperative development but few explicit provisions for waste picker recognition, representation and participation in decision-making. The study shows how recycling initiatives do not translate into institutional inclusion of informal waste pickers. Formal recognition, participatory governance, infrastructure access, occupational protection and partnerships with recycling companies could support inclusive waste management and circular economy practices in KSDLM.