Valuable information on recyclable waste: Mobile phones and the rationalization of the scrap-handling sector in Myanmar

Abstract

This article examines how the scrap-handling/recycling system in Myanmar has adopted mobile telephony in its day-to-day operations, and how this has led to a rationalization of the sector. It focuses on work processes, information and price retrieval, risk management, efficiency, and coordination. Scrap-handlers and ragpickers in four townships of Myanmar were interviewed in three phases of fieldwork, and their mobile phone use was also observed. The findings provide insight into how mobile communication can streamline the day-to-day workings of a sector, and also the disadvantages experienced by those who do not have a mobile phone.

Keywords:

• Digital divide
• Global South
• mobile communication
• ragpicking
• rationalization
• recycling
• scrap-handling
• small and medium-sized enterprises
• technology adoption

Acknowledgment

The study was supported by a grant from Telenor [M4061557.060] and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore [M4081430.060].

Notes

1 Based on a review of the existing literature, van Dijk (2006) identified following types of inequalities: technological (technological opportunities); immaterial (life chances and freedom); material (capital resources – economic, social and cultural); social (positions, power, and participation); and, educational (capabilities and skills).

2 When comparing the findings of this study with our earlier studies (Aricat and Ling Work in progress; Ling et al. 2015) on the other sectors (e.g. trishaw drivers, brick makers), we see a similar divide. For example, the older and poorer trishaw riders reported that it was increasingly difficult for them to get customers, as their younger mobile phone-equipped colleagues could more easily make telephonic arrangements with customers (Ling et al. 2017a).