Report on social, gender, ethical, regional, and national aspects

Due to the economic crisis, the continuing growth of cities and increasing market prices for secondary raw materials it can be expected that the number of people involved in informal waste collection and recycling activities tends to further increase. Therefore, it is time to rethink potential future developments in the context of low-income countries like Brazil and Nicaragua. When new systems to improve solid waste management are introduced and investment decisions are made, a key question often asked is where and how to make those investments to maximize the intended outcomes. The question is whether to use the knowledge and experience of the existing systems where informal actors play a key role or to strive for modernisation excluding this knowledge and to focus more on technology-based solutions. The contribution of informal activities is difficult to estimate as informal waste claimers have no inherent reason, obligations or simply not the capabilities to keep records regarding their work. As "formal" (official) performance data are usually not covering informal systems, official statistics (if even available) do not reflect the complete picture of waste management in low-income countries. As WEEE contains high concentrations of valuable materials, in comparison to other types of waste, the activity of the informal sector in this sector is high.