This paper concludes that independently of the formalization approach, the lack of interventions or measures in any of the five categories of barriers may lead formalization initiatives to fail, as unaddressed barriers become 'persistent' after formalization is implemented. Furthermore, 'persistent barriers' may also appear due to unfavorable country-specific conditions. The success of a formalization initiative does not depend on a specific approach, but most likely on the inclusion of country-appropriate measures at the policy, economic and institutional levels. The empowerment of informal waste-workers is again confirmed as a further key success factor for their formalization.

Informal recycling is one of the most significant activities within waste management systems in low income countries. The main aspect of a number of recently implemented waste management systems has been to organise the informal recycling sector and to integrate it as a formal stakeholder. These formalisation approaches are expected to eliminate not only the poor economic situation of informal recyclers but also their common social problems e.g. social rejection, lack of education and inappropriate health and working conditions. However the effectively elimination of social problems related to the informal sector has not been precisely measured and evaluated. A lack of methodology to assess social impacts persists, as does the comparison of different formalisation approaches. This work aims to develop a methodology for assessing the contribution of formalisation approaches in terms of social impacts. A further goal is to determine the feasibility of applying this methodology by identifying and measuring the social impacts of three case studies in Peru. A review of literature was carried out in order to describe the current situation of waste management systems in low income countries and to evaluate some existing social impact assessment approaches including sLCA. For the social impact assessment this study proposes an approach based oriented towards the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology (sLCA) considering 3 social impact categories, 9 social subcategories and 26 semi-quantitative indicators for the social. The methodology was tested on three Peruvian case studies with two different formalisation approaches thereby confirming or rebutting the expectations and forecasts of organisations (NGOs, Local Authorities, Ministries & Business) involved in the implementation. It can be concluded that although sLCA was originally used to analyse the environmental impacts of products, it is feasible to adapt it for the social assessment of recycling systems based on formalisation of the informal sector in low income countries. The impact categories and subcategories identified represent the social problems of informal recyclers. The comparison of current social impacts between different formalisation approaches using this methodology is also viable. A further conclusion is that it is feasible to measure the social impacts of formalisation approaches using the selected indicators and characterisation procedure.

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As part of the Paris Agreement, countries are asked to put forward their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which present their proposed pathways to tackle climate change. To that end, circular economy (CE) has been proposed as a potentially important catalyzer to meet NDCs. Yet, the potential of CE strategies to help reach climate goals at the country scale has been little explored until now. Here, we propose a consistent step‐wise methodology, which assesses quantitatively the potential of CE strategies to reach national targets for GHG emission mitigation. Projections of a given country's business‐as‐usual (BAU) emissions are derived to pinpoint key emitting sectors and link those with relevant CE strategies identified from the literature that can mitigate their emissions. The resulting mitigation potentials can be compared to different national benchmarks to serve policy making processes. Although applicable to any countries, we focus on applications to developing countries, which often lack structured approaches and efficient mechanisms to integrate their climate objectives into national strategies and policies. As proof‐of‐concept, we thus applied the methodology to the case of Chile. For this country, the proposed sector‐specific CE measures were found to potentially reduce by 37% the GHG emissions in 2030 compared to BAU levels, thus putting the country on track to fulfill its NDC commitments. Building on this proof‐of‐concept and discussions from its run, we recommend the application of our methodology to other countries to identify CE opportunities and enable capacity building to support policy making.

Several formalisation approaches of informal recycling have been implemented in developing countries, aiming at its integration into formal recycling systems. These strategies are often implemented through the initiative of local recyclers and non-government organisations. The aim is to tackle not only the poor economic situation but also common social problems of the informal recycling sector, such as social rejection, lack of education and inappropriate health and working conditions. Nevertheless, the expected positive social impacts are not precisely assessed or measured. This paper aims to develop a methodological approach based on the social life cycle assessment methodology for the assessment of recycling systems in developing countries with implemented formalisation measures. A field study in three Peruvian cities shows the feasibility of applying this methodology for assessing recycling systems. The case studies displayed negative performances regarding the indicators of discrimination, recognised employment relationships, and fulfilment of social benefits, physical working conditions and access to education. Regarding freedom of association, psychological working conditions and social acceptance, the city with formalisation of (formerly informal) recyclers obtained better evaluations whereas the city without formalisation was better evaluated in terms of working time and minimum and fair wages.