Waste pickers in the informal economy of the Global South: included or excluded?

_Purpose:_ This article aims to provide insights into the role and practices of informal waste pickers and the implications for waste management policy in urban contexts of the Global South. _Design/methodology/approach:_ Qualitative case studies were used, including interviews, observations and document analyses. We compared informal waste management in two cities of the Global South: Accra (Ghana) and Porto Alegre (Brazil). _Findings:_ The analysis points out that informal waste pickers play a crucial role in the implementation of waste policies in both cities, despite differing economic, social and institutional contexts. The study of the waste management system also points to multiple connections between informal and formal parts of the economy. Although the informal waste pickers are integral to the waste management systems, their economically disadvantaged position excludes them from the formal labour market. Faced with these challenges, they develop creative solutions to guarantee their livelihood and gain more effective collective voice. _Research limitations:_ The comparison of two case studies, conducted about the same social phenomenon in two different economic, institutional and social contexts, has limited generalizability but is theoretically and practically important. _Practical implications:_ The findings are relevant to policy-makers who deal with urban waste management and for organizations who develop support actio

Waste crime from three criminological perspectives

This paper focuses on the waste-crime nexus. We discuss which implications different criminological approaches to the waste-crime nexus and their respective etiological explanations and views on financial incentives hold for crime control and harm prevention. After all, the criminogenic opportunities of waste as a product and a sector are utilized by corporations as well as criminal organizations. This makes waste crime a topic of research for corporate crime and organized crime scholars. Moreover, waste crime is also a topic of green criminological research. For each of these three perspectives, we discuss what consequences the theories have for controlling and preventing waste crime and whether the contemporary regulation and enforcement answers to these requirements. Besides existing criminological studies on waste crime, this paper builds on the finds of our own studies on the Dutch waste sector and the Belgian trade in e-waste. We also pay attention to how these three criminological perspectives are reflected in reports and recommendations on waste crime by NGOs and international governmental organizations. For each of the three perspectives, we discuss a couple of prominent cases of waste crime that reflect the framing of the nature and the causes of the theoretical perspectives

Een schip op het strand is een baken in zee

Shipbreaking is de ontmanteling van afgedankte schepen voor hergebruik van onderdelen en terugwinning van grondstoffen. De meerderheid van de schepen wordt met rudimentaire methodes afgebroken op Zuidoost-Aziatische stranden. Dit schaadt de gezondheid van de arbeiders en verontreinigt het milieu. Deze casestudy bestudeert shipbreaking als milieucriminaliteitsfenomeen en gebruikt de geïntegreerde state-corporate crimetheorie als analysekader. We focussen op Duitsland en Griekenland als herkomstlanden en Bangladesh als land van bestemming. Onze resultaten tonen aan dat een complex criminogeen samenspel van economische en politieke actoren op nationaal en internationaal niveau de shipbreakingsector maakt tot wat deze vandaag is. Shipbreaking is de ontmanteling van afgedankte schepen voor hergebruik van onderdelen en terugwinning van grondstoffen. De meerderheid van de schepen wordt met rudimentaire methodes afgebroken op Zuidoost-Aziatische stranden. Dit schaadt de gezondheid van de arbeiders en verontreinigt het milieu. Deze casestudy bestudeert shipbr

Getting a foot in the door: spaces of cocaine trafficking in the Port of Rotterdam

As an important gateway to Europe, the Port of Rotterdam is known for its high-quality facilities and efficiency, but also attracts organised crime groups who use the transatlantic legal trade flows to traffic cocaine. Based on a qualitative study, consisting of 73 interviews with public and private actors, an analysis of 10 criminal investigations and field visits to public and private organisations in the port, this article examines how organised crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking take advantage of or adapt to the socio-spatial relations in the Port of Rotterdam. First, we pay attention to which physical spaces in the port of Rotterdam provide opportunities for cocaine trafficking. Second, we examine how the occupational and legal environment in which people, private companies and law enforcement agencies in the port work and interact provide opportunities for cocaine trafficking. Our findings demonstrate that increased security measures by both public and private actors directed at physical spaces result in a displacement to new spaces in and around the port of Rotterdam. Furthermore, the current socio-spatial relations in the port of Rotterdam also make the role of people on the inside – referring to a whole range of public and private employees – increasingly indispensabl

Waste Crime – Waste Risks: Gaps in Meeting the Global Waste Challenge

More than ever, our future depends upon how we manage the future of our waste. As an integrated part of sustainable development, effective waste management can reduce our global footprint. Ignoring or neglecting the challenges of waste, however, can lead to significant health, environmental and economic consequences. A staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food is produced each year to feed the world’s 7 billion people. Yet, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around US$1 trillion of that food goes to waste. With 200,000 new peoplWaste covers a very wide spectrum of discarded materials ranging from municipal, electrical and electronic, industrial and agricultural, to new types including counterfeit pesticides. It also includes anything in size and scale from decommissioned ships, oil or liquid wastes, hundreds of millions of mobile phones to billions of used car tires. __Recommendations__ - Strengthen awareness, monitoring and information - Strengthen national legislation and enforcement capacities - Strengthen international treaties and compliance measures - Promote prevention measures and synergie

The Illicit Trade in Hazardous Waste: a Criminological Supply Chain Approach

This chapter begins by introducing the issue of hazardous waste. Attention is paid, first, to (hazardous) waste generation and, second, to the trade in hazardous waste. Next, the chapter discusses the most important international conventions and regulations on waste. It then explains the reasons behind the illegal trade in hazardous waste. This explores the criminogenic characteristics of the sector and product, the more organized criminal activity involved in the black market waste trade (Ruggiero 1996) and the modus operandi used in the illegal waste trade. The chapter then moves to a discussion of two particular cases of hazardous waste: e-waste and shipbreaking. These cases provide insights into what general dynamics drive this illegal trade and illustrate the specific dynamics and regulatory implications of each type of waste. All of this informs an analysis of the international policy and enforcement strategies, the main challenges in controlling the illegal trade in hazardous waste, and opportunities for better control and prevention

Drug crime in the Port of Rotterdam

This public version is a lay summary which follows the structure and layout of the report. The full report is available digitally and provides a complete picture of the findings

Drugscriminaliteit in de Rotterdamse haven: aard en aanpak van het fenomeen

Uniek onderzoek EUR-criminologen naar drugssmokkel in de Rotterdamse haven De Rotterdamse haven wordt aangewend voor de smokkel van drugs, met name cocaïne. De criminelen maken hierbij gebruik van de legale goederenstroom en de infrastructuur van de haven. Voor een effectieve aanpak is de inzet van niet alleen overheidsdiensten, maar ook van het bedrijfsleven nodig. In het rapport “Drugscriminaliteit in de Rotterdamse haven: aard en aanpak van het fenomeen” geven criminologen van Erasmus School of Law (EUR) een breed en diepgaand beeld van de drugssmokkel in de grootste haven van Europa. Het onderzoek onder leiding van hoogleraar Richard Staring vond plaats in opdracht van de Rotterdamse ‘driehoek-plus’: de gemeente, het Openbaar Ministerie, de politie en de douane. Burgemeester Aboutaleb spreekt van een “rapportage in de volle breedte en complexiteit, waarin een uniek en verhelderend beeld wordt geschetst”