3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    Theorizing the relations between space and waste: residents’ insights on recycling practices and waste pickers in Vaalpark, Sasolburg
    (2018) Pholoto, Lethabo
    Separation at source has emerged as the method of choice for municipal recycling programmes, both in South Africa and around the world. At the same time, many local governments are seeking to engage and integrate waste pickers into the municipal waste and recycling systems. While a number of studies analyse the experiences of waste pickers in these processes, scant attention has been paid to residents. Yet the success of separation at source is dependent on resident participation, and such participation is notoriously difficult to secure. Given the generalised stigmatisation of waste pickers around the world, it is important to understand how including waste pickers in separation at source could affect resident participation. This research project therefore sought to understand the role of relations between residents and waste pickers in the implementation of a separation-at-source programme run by the Ikageng-Ditamating cooperative of waste pickers in the upmarket, historically white Vaalpark neighbourhood of Sasolburg, South Africa. Based on participant observation, observation, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, this dissertation establishes that although the semi-formalised cooperative members based at the Vaalpark Recycling Centre are the only waste pickers who are meant to collect recyclables from the residents, independent informal street pickers still collect from the same homes, and informal landfill pickers also salvage materials sent the landfill. The dissertation argues that the ways the residents relate to the Ikageng-Ditamating cooperative of semi-formalised waste pickers and how they participate in the separation at source programme are informed by their relationships with and understandings of landfill and street waste pickers, as well as with their direction engagements with the cooperative waste pickers. The spaces that waste pickers work in play a crucial role in shaping the ways in which they work and relate to residents, the ways they are seen and understood, and how residents participate in separation at source. So do articulations of race, class, and space. Existing literature does not sufficiently explore how the spaces where waste pickers work contribute to the development of different kinds of waste pickers and their relations with residents. By engaging with Henry Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space, this dissertation contributes to literatures both on resident participation in separation at source and the relationship between residents and waste pickers. This understanding provide insights into how integration of waste pickers into separation-atsource programmes should be designed to maximize resident participation
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    The construct of state practices: excavating Municipal relationships with waste pickers, the case of the City of Johannesburg.
    (2018) Dladla, Nomathemba Elizabeth
    This research focues on the City of Johannesburg’s Environment Infrastructure and Service Delivery Department as well as Pikitup and how they have been engaging with reclaimers in the city of Johannesburg. There was a need to conduct research on the relationship between the state and the reclaimers in Johannesburg because of the loopholes and inconsistencies in the practices and forms of management that shape Pikitup’s and COJ’s programmes to work with reclaimers (SACN, 2016). The reclaimers that began to work with the City in programmes such as the Separattion at Source were not included in the planning processes and City officials did not have guidelines that assist them in working with reclaimers. This research explores the practices of the state that are often missing from accounts (documents) of service delivery and engagement with reclaimers. Therefore, one of the main concepts unpacked in this research are state practices and instruments and how they produce certain norms (Sharma and Gupta, 2009; Olivier de Sardan, 2009; Bénit-Gbaffou, 2016). The notion of “integration” that links to other concepts such as partnership, formalisation, co-production and empowerment have also been looked into. For the purpose of this study the following question will be addressed: How have state practices of City officials shaped and influenced the “integration” of reclaimers in the city Johannesburg?. The research was explored through qualitative and the ethnographic research methods. The City of Johannesburg has been going through a major shift in relation to its political context. Therefore, the study also investigates the current priorities of the City with regards to reclaimers. I demonstrate how the challenges faced by City offiials are as a resut of lacking guidelines and strategies. These challenges have also caused the fluidity of the City official’s commitment to working with reclaimers. This has been explored principally through Pikitup and EISD officials in the City of Johannesburg.
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    The policy and practice of reclaimer integration in the City of Johannesburg
    (2017) Sekhwela, Maite Mmakgomo
    Reclaimer integration in South Africa has been identified as a priority, but how to integrate reclaimers remains a challenge. Crucially, there is not yet a coherent approach or a clear understanding of what reclaimer integration means in South Africa, let alone whether this same understanding of integration is shared by the reclaimers who are being integrated. By focusing on the integration initiatives of the Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) and Pikitup, this thesis conducts a comparative study of two reclaimer integration projects in Johannesburg. It investigates the breakdown and mismatch of understandings between social actors who do not share the same view of integration and implications thereof. In doing so, it contributes to discourse on the transformation of Johannesburg’s waste management system. Social constructivism theory by Berger and Luckmann (1966) provides the theoretical grounding for this dissertation by exploring how different milieus and experiences shape people’s understanding of realities. Findings illustrate that there is no clear conceptualisation of integration that underpins waste management policy. Drawing on social constructivism theory, the paper concludes that integration is a socially constructed and contested concept. Essentially, there are inconsistent understandings of integration among different groups of reclaimers as well as officials. For that reason, integration programmes created a new form of exclusion and imposed negative effects on reclaimers. KEYWORDS: Integration, Reclaimers, Waste, Policy, Recycling, cooperatives
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