From waste work to waste coordination: Multilayer brokerage in informal recovery systems

Fragmentation in urban waste systems constrains the coordination capacity of informal waste management networks, with significant implications for informal resource recovery and circularity in Global South cities. This study examines how waste system coordination is structurally organized within Colombo, Sri Lanka, using a multilayer social network analysis combined with qualitative activity mapping. Network interactions among 207 actors were mapped across three distinct operational layers of the waste value chain: information sharing, joint action, and resource exchange. The results reveal a persistent participation-influence gap. Individuals and private sector recyclers dominate the information and resource exchange layers, facilitating the primary circulation of recovered materials and technical sorting knowledge. However, brokerage roles and structural influence are concentrated among a comparatively small subset of institutional and community organizations, indicating that system-wide coordination depends on a relatively small institutional subset. The analysis further identifies “quiet brokers”: actors who perform substantial cross group mediation despite comparatively low whole-network prominence. By linking everyday material recovery practices with institutional programs and markets, these actors constitute an overlooked relational infrastructure underpinning urban waste system performance. The findings show that limited overlaps between information, joint action, and resource exchange networks constrain feedback between grassroots practices and formal governance processes. This structural fragmentation restricts opportunities for learning, coordination, and scaling of circular resource recovery. Strengthening circular economy transitions in fragmented urban governance contexts therefore requires policies that recognize and support the relational brokerage through which informal waste management systems operate.