Informal Sector Dynamics in Urban Solid Waste Governance: Scavengers, Scrap Dealers, and the Politics of Unrecognized Labour in Zaria, Nigeria

Abstract

The informal sector remains the de facto backbone of solid waste collection in many low-income African cities, yet it is routinely absent from formal governance frameworks. This study appraises the scale, structure and institutional standing of informal waste actors - scavengers, scrap dealers and unregistered collectors in Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Using a mixed-method design combining household surveys (n = 288), key-informant interviews with 50 informal operators and local government officials, and direct field observation across four districts of Zaria Walled City, the study finds that 979 primary and 317 secondary informal collectors handle approximately 112,350 kilograms of solid waste daily, compared with a public-sector workforce of only 207 staff. Despite this disproportionate contribution, informal operators work without registration, protective equipment, price protection or representation in policy instruments, and households pay them directly for a service the formal system does not reliably provide. The findings are read against Stoker's regime theory and pluralist models of urban governance, showing that stakeholder presence does not translate into recognition or coordinated action. The paper argues that Zaria's solid waste management system exhibits a 'politics of unrecognized labour', in which the informal sector's functional indispensability coexists with its administrative invisibility. Drawing on comparative experience from Nigeria, Brazil and other developing contexts, the study proposes cooperative formation, fair-price collection points, protective equipment provision, and formal integration of informal actors into local waste governance frameworks as a pathway toward a more inclusive and sustainable solid waste management system.