Analysis of the value chain and network structure of informal waste recycling in Beijing, China

•Informal actor classifications and recyclable exchange structures are presented.•Introducing actors' collection quantities and respective recyclable compositions.•Material-based profit and income levels of informal actors have been calculated.•Analysis of institutional dynamics in the informal sector in Beijing's waste management.•Application of Old Institutional Economics to a waste management context.

Despite the intensive efforts that the People's Republic of China has invested in the improvement of municipal solid waste management, Municipal Solid Waste collection is still heavily contested by the informal sector. These informal stakeholders divert recyclables such as waste metals, plastics, paper and glass out of municipal solid waste and sell these along informal trading networks for a living. This study aims to present a qualitative and quantitative description of the informal sector and its role in the collection of recyclables in Beijing. Via a semi-structured and -quantitative questionnaire survey among informal stakeholders we could ascertain daily individual collection quantities (kg/cap/day), thereby generated revenues and respective trading network and structures (informal recycling value chain) of informal stakeholders. The field survey identified three groups of informal collectors, namely Waste Pickers, Waste Merchants and Middle Men, who on average collect 16, 311, and 890 kg of recyclables per day and capita respectively, and achieve turn-over levels of 1200; 2500 and 5250 CNY per month. In order to explain the strong performance of the IS the approach of the old institutional economics has been chosen as analytical tool.