Accounting for informal waste picking in a Global North city: the case of Barcelona

Informal waste pickers (IWPs) form an integral part of the waste management systems of cities around the world, playing a vital yet undervalued role in environmental sustainability and urban circularity. A well-known phenomenon in the Global South, informal waste picking is becoming more visible in Global North cities, but it is still under-researched, especially in quantitative terms. This study analyses and quantitatively estimates the role of IWPs in the waste management system in Barcelona, Spain. We study IWPs’ role in material, environmental and monetary terms through a mixed method approach combining field observations, surveys, stakeholder interviews and secondary data analysis. Our findings show that between 1,640 and 1,940 IWPs operate in Barcelona in very precarious conditions, working almost 60 h a week for about €2 an hour (less than 25% of the Spanish minimum wage). They collect between 33% and 39% of the city’s metal waste, saving at least 36–41,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions and 42–69,000 m 3 of water annually. We conclude that IWPs play an essential role in Barcelona’s waste management system while operating under exploitative conditions, providing cheap labour and materials for the recycling sector and enhancing the circularity of the city’s metabolism. The associated costs are largely borne by IWPs and public authorities, while the gains are private. Achieving just urban waste governance in Barcelona, as in other Global North cities, requires that IWPs’ role and the value they create be acknowledged, both politically and economically, through policies that protect and dignify this activity and foster IWPs’ socio-economic inclusion.