Precarious, more precarious, most precarious? The quality of life of waste pickers in the Karoo

Abstract

Towns in the Karoo region currently offer few income-generating opportunities, resulting in people seeking informal waste-picking opportunities on the streets and landfills. This article aims to investigate the level of precariousness of waste pickers in the context of the Karoo towns in comparison with the rest of South Africa using Sen’s capability approach. A cross-sectional research design was used, interviewing 75 informal landfill waste pickers and 23 street waste pickers in nine Karoo towns. The results indicated that, in some respects, the situation of the Karoo waste pickers is more precarious than those in other areas of South Africa.