Integration of the informal waste sector in the Indian city of Chennai: a case study

Abstract

India has experienced rapid industrialisation which has led to a significant increase in consumption and, in turn, in waste generation. The informal waste sector (IWS) plays a key role in managing consumer waste. However, this sector is subject to negative social and economic conditions and its integration in formal systems remains unsolved. Understanding institutions as strategies, norms and rules that guide the behaviour of actors, and acknowledging that institutions are connected to one another, this research focuses on the waste management system of Chennai, India to answer How the institutional network of the waste system influence the integration of the informal waste sector? The Institutional Network Analysis method is applied to data obtained from desk research and stakeholder interviews. The network analysis reveals the following results: 1) the Municipality is the major bottleneck for the sector's integration; 2) the large gap between rules-in-use and rules-in-form (i.e., IWS is legally recognised since 2016 but integration has not happened in practice); 3) it is not a problem of policy implementation, in fact the problem lies in the stages of agenda setting and policy formulation; 4) disagreement between policy levels, between the ones that create the policy and those that have to implement it (high-level policy makers agree on the need to integrate the IWS while low-level policy makers do not deem it as a priority).