Waste is collected by the privatized municipal operator SAMVA (Service Autonome de Maintenance de la Ville d’Antananarivo) but also brought directly by larger companies, industries, and hospitals. SAMVA is in charge of waste management and operating the site in coordination with the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Ministry and the Urban City of Antananarivo (CUA). [4][6][7][8] In some parts of Antananarivo, neighborhood-based sanitation groups (called Rafitra Fikojàna ny Rano sy Fidiovana) are engaged in local waste management but remain chronically underfunded and understaffed [1]. Moreover, since 2010 there is also a national association of waste collectors, called PLAFCCO (‘Platform de Comite de Pre-Collect des Ordures’), which was initiated by the environmental organization Enda has a contract with the municipality and employs about 400 members in door-to-door collection. These workers earn an extra-income by picking out recyclables during the collection and at transfer stations and selling them to junk dealers. The same work is done by informal waste pickers under more precarious conditions. [9][10]

There are more than 3,000 waste pickers (locally called mpikritaka) at Andralanitra dump, the larger part of them women. They come from mostly marginalized families who often came to the capital to seek work, started to pick waste to be able to survive and settled down around the dump. Waste pickers earn between 10,000 and 20,000 ariary ($US 2.50-5.00) per day and work at all times of the day, typically women during the day and men at night. [2][6][8][11][12] They are exposed to various health and occupational risks, for example, due to harsh weather conditions, the physical demands of the work and long working hours, as well as exposure to bad smell and toxic gases, smoke and substances. Leachate is still not treated and directly disposed to the surrounding rice fields. [2][4][6][8] Many of them do not like the work at the dump but cannot find another job and are now accustomed to the conditions; others report that they engage in several small jobs and in between work at the dump. During the rainy season, trucks have difficulties accessing the site, and also recycling is difficult. [13] The bad sanitary conditions are aggravated by a proliferation of flies and harmful insects, rats, and stray dogs, and have recently led to the spread of the plague. Regularly, fetuses or unwanted newborn babies are found. It is also reported that waste pickers who felt asleep during night shifts were run over by garbage trucks. [2][7][11][12][14] Confronted with these conditions, some of them have recently moved to even lower-paid work in a nearby porphyry mine instead, while journalists who reported about this situation claimed that they had received threats from SAMVA [2][12][14].

This group of informal recyclers at Andralanitra recover more than 21 tons of recyclable materials every day, such as most notably plastics, electronic devices, coal, metals and jewelry, and food waste. In addition to that, value is also recovered from recycling activities that are distinct from other places. For example, bones are collected to produce traditional medicine ‘Ranomena’ (Red Water). About 60 men (exclusively) also engage in informal compost production by filtering out organic waste that has accumulated at the site. They produce about 20 m³ of compost per day. A few families also collect vegetable fibers called ‘Laro’ and used oil and animal fat to produce soap, which involves the burning of substantial amounts of plastic and cloth waste and the release of toxic fumes. [8] Most waste pickers focus on collecting one specific type of waste, ranging from copper-knobs of jeans to certain types of plastic bottles that are bought by Chinese companies to produce toys and sandals [11].

The dumpsite community has received notable support from Akamasoa, which was founded as a social project by a catholic pastor in 1989. Today, Akamasoa (‘loyal friend’ in Malagasy) has developed into an association with over 500 employees which, over the years, has helped thousands of families to escape poverty. In Andralanitra, the first of today’s 22 Akamasoa villages (most of them further away from the capital) was build with the idea to create new solidary and community structures and to improve people’s lives through housing, education, and work. Hence, many of the dumpsite dwellers have found new homes there and were provided with access to free social and basic infrastructure such as schools, health care, professional training, and sanitation facilities, among others. For many of them, the association and the village have become an integral part of their life. [8][15][16] Housing is, however, only accessible to active church members. Pastor Pedro notes that the association has, in a way, replaced the role of the state, which has been absent in supporting the urban poor. The association, in turn, depends largely on donations. [15] During its work in supporting the local community for over three decades, Akamasoa has regularly raised awareness for the vulnerable situation of waste pickers and poor families in Andralanitra. In recent years, it for example publicly pointed to the lack of maintenance of the dump and urged SAMVA to better coordinate dumping practices. [17] However, although the association did not directly support the work of waste-pickers as its intention was rather to move them away from the dumpsite and to help them to develop alternative livelihoods, for example in villages. [8]

Given several recent attempts to enclose the site and install a formal recycling system in Andralanitra [18], it at this point remains unclear whether waste pickers will benefit from waste recovery activities that have recently started as pilot projects or whether they will soon lose their livelihoods and access to recyclable waste. Andrianisa et al. (2018) point out that Akamasoa’s involvement has improved the lives of large parts of the dumpsite community, but not their economic and institutional position, as it has not directly addressed the integration and recognition of the informal recycling sector, which remains excluded from recent attempts to improve segregation at source and waste recovery. If this trend is ongoing, it can be expected that Andralanitra will soon become closed and a controlled recycling facility opened in another place, but without the integration of vulnerable informal groups which have so-far formed the pillar of all recycling activities. [8]