The waste pickers of İstanbul: a case study

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2327705_ (Table of contents)

This thesis focuses on the role of waste pickers in the recycling industry. Recycling is a sector that has many actors. Even though waste pickers are the most disadvantaged group of this system, they have a critical position as they are the main actors that make this sector possible. This study examines how the hierarchy in the recycling sector is shaped and thus tries to examine the waste picking as labor in the context of informal sector, migration and urban poverty. My research firstly makes an historical analysis of the conditions that make it into a global phenomenon while focusing on the centralization story of waste, waste collection and recycling sector in Turkey. Then, my research delves into the work of waste picking in İstanbul; the working conditions of the waste pickers and the relationship they have with their labor and with the city. This thesis underlines the sociological importance of recycling, waste and waste picking