The N2 scrap collectors: assessing the viability of informal recycling using the sustainable livelihoods framework

A group of women in the rural Eastern Cape Province of South Africa earns a living collecting scrap metal and paying to transport it for sale in Durban. The sustainability of their livelihood is in question because of an ever-shrinking supply of recyclable metals, fluctuating commodity prices, and the logistical difficulties of transporting the materials to buyers further along the recycling value chain. Using the sustainable livelihoods framework, this paper highlights the opportunities and challenges facing these informal recyclers. It shows how the women have fashioned a livelihood practice in the context of widespread rural poverty, isolation from recycling markets, and limited community assets. Implications for community development include the need for a participatory sustainable livelihood analysis to evaluate ways to counterbalance the instability and uncertainty involved in informal recycling and to raise the incomes of the women involved in this activity.