The informal waste sector dominates the tradeable waste collection system in Viet Nam. While this ecosystem is not well understood, it is accepted to be one of the most crucial systems diverting various waste streams from landfills and environments across the country. As Vietnam continues to grow economically, there is more pressure brought to essential sectors including solid waste management. The government is tackling this issue with several inclusive and non-inclusive models to overcome this growth.

The UNDP Accelerator Lab performed a series of experiments in 2019 in Da Nang and found that the informal waste workers (IWW), are an integral, essential part of the waste management system. The UNDP team set out to do an in-depth analysis of the importance of the IWPs to understand how their work impacts the current waste management system.

This study collects data from various unique angles - an in-depth IWP survey; GPS tracking to map the routes of IWPs.; and key stakeholder interviews.