Collective Action in Waste Management: A Comparative Study of Recycling and Recovery Initiatives from Brazil, Indonesia, and Nigeria Using the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework

Abstract

Recycling and recovery provide not only a sustainable option to decrease the volume of waste that needs final disposal, but also a blueprint to a circular economy. However, rates of recycling/recovery still remain very low on a global scale. While it is important to look for technology-based solutions to improve recycling/recovery activities, such solutions might not be necessarily affordable in many countries. A solution that involves the active participation of the population, on the other hand, has the potential to succeed in any country. The challenge is to attract and unite people to achieve such common goals. The theory of collective action and the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, that have been originally used in resource management, are two concepts that can be adapted to organize recycling/recovery initiatives. This manuscript discusses what recycling/recovery programs can learn from the theory of collective action and the IAD framework, through a qualitative comparative study of such initiatives from three different cities. They are; Curitiba in Brazil, Padang in Indonesia, and Akure in Nigeria. The cases show the potential benefits of both concepts, not only in formulating and implementing recycling/recovery programs but also in making corrective measures for continuous improvements. All cases also showed the importance of increasing awareness-raising to change public perception towards waste from being a nuisance to a valuable resource.The above situation warrants a discussion on what strategies we should employ to enhance recycling/recovery activities. While developed or high-income countries can look for high-end technological solutions, developing and low-income countries may not have the ability to afford such solutions [7]. On the other hand, solutions that involve active participation of people (city residents and/or communities) have the potential to be sustainable in all countries irrespective of their economic development, although the return it may bring will be more substantial in the developing countries for several reasons. First, the economic benefits and employment prospects brought by selling recyclables (such as paper, plastics, glass, etc.) or other recoverables (e.g., nutrients through composting, energy through incineration of biogas production) can be significant to developing countries. In addition, active participation of people in such recovery activities also gives another avenue to raise much needed awareness in sustainable waste management.It is convenient to assume that the logic of economic gains through recycling can attract public attention for such activities. The reality is often a lot more complicated, making it a chicken or the egg type of a dilemma. Public participation supports recycling/recovery activities to prosper, but a prosperous, already-running program is also often needed to convince the hesitant public. Where should we begin? This made us think about cross-disciplinary pollination of ideas and bring two relatively established concep...

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