R.K. NAGARAJU
Abstract
This paper investigates how transnational waste flows and informal recycling economies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) generate conditions consistent with forced and child labor. Through a qualitative review of ethnographic studies, investigative journalism, and policy documents- and by applying the International Labour Organizationâs (ILO) forced labour indicators as an analytical framework -the study reveals that coercion in landfill sites operates not through overt violence but through structural vulnerability, informal debt mechanisms, and systemic exclusion from labor protections. The analysis further identifies a critical governance gap: environmental regulations such as the Basel Convention govern the movement of waste but remain silent on labor conditions, while modern slavery laws in high-income countries largely ignore the end-of-life phase of global supply chains. Despite these systemic failures, waste picker cooperatives in several countries demonstrate that worker-led informal governance can mitigate exploitation and assert dignity. The paper concludes that an ethical circular economy must integrate labor rights into waste policy, legally recognize informal waste workers as environmental service providers, and extend corporate human rights due diligence across the full product lifecycle. As a desk-based qualitative study, this research is limited by its reliance on secondary sources and the absence of primary field data.