Scavenging: Between precariousness, marginality and access to the city. The case of Roma people in Turin and Marseille

Abstract

Waste picking is an old practice, whereby profit is gained by recovering recyclable materials from discarded objects and reintroducing them into the formal and informal economic circuits. Recycling and recovery of waste in urban centres in the Global South has been the subject of a number of studies. However, this activity also exists in more affluent cities. Based on research carried out in Turin (Italy) and Marseille (France), in this paper we analyse waste picking by Roma communities, showing that this activity not only provides them with an income from the sale of recycled objects and materials but also allows them to assemble their access to the city and its multiple resources –people, objects, spaces. Only the recognition of the Roma as workers and citizens beyond any imposed normalisation can bring about a change in the way their being-in-the-city is considered both at a social, economic and political level.