Informal recyclers' livelihoods, the role of place and waste governance at campus football tailgates in Michigan

Low-income people worldwide engage in informal or unregulated livelihood activities, but these activities have remained understudied and often misunderstood, especially in the global North cities. Michigan's 10-cent deposit law for the return of beverage containers has led to recycling as a means of earning income, especially at campus football tailgates. Little is known about the livelihood opportunities that campus football tailgates create. To our knowledge, no prior studies have examined the factors that facilitate or constrain canners' activities when collecting aluminum cans and bottles at campus football tailgates. In addition, only a few studies document how place-based contexts influence informal recyclers to (un)successfully engage in their livelihood activity. Lastly, no study has looked specifically at how campus officials effectively govern the waste management system at football tailgates while co-existing productively, specifically with tailgaters and people who earn their income from collecting cans at these events.In this dissertation based on qualitative research, I present three essays related to informal recycling livelihoods, the role of a place-based context, and waste governance at campus football tailgates in the United States. Maximum variation (heterogeneity) sampling, a purposeful sampling method, was used to recruit participants from different races, genders, age groups, and years of experience in either tailgating or collecting cans for income. All three essays used direct observation and semi-structured interviews.The first essay explores the assets that informal recyclers bring to construct their livelihoods and examines the constraints and opportunities that they encounter, using the lens of a modified sustainable livelihood framework. The findings indicate that differences in capital assets such as social networks, physical strength, skills, and access to equipment led to differences in canners' ability to earn an income from collecting cans and bottles. Other significant sources of motivation include contributing to environmental stewardship and recognition for doing so. The study recommends that policy makers support capital assets that enable informal recycling activities and reduce barriers that constrain successful engagement with the livelihood activity.Using the Institutional Analysis Design Framework, the second essay analyzes the roles and relationships among different actors in governing waste at campus football tailgates. It examines the formal and informal rules practiced and how they shape waste governance at on-campus football tailgates and with what outcomes. There is lack of communication between university officials resulting in missed opportunities for improving waste governance.The last essay examines how place-based contexts influence informal recyclers to collect recyclables for income at football tailgates and not in other places. The explores how football tailgates are places that enable canners to engage in their livelihood activity more than other place-based contexts. Canners are self-conscious of the stereotyping, stigma, and discrimination associated with their social identities. The findings offer insights into how a place-based context supports collecting cans for income and recognizes the environmental value of canners compared to other places. Nonetheless, tailgaters recognize the environmental value of canners at football tailgates more than they would at other places. The study contributes to literature on informal recyclers from a global North context and recommends that opening lines of communication among the actors would legitimize the role of canners in campus sustainability.