Social Capital in the Circular Economy: Community-Based Waste Recycling Practices at Bantar Gebang Landfill

Dewa Ayu Indiana Ida Loemongga Sandopart; Dewa Putu Yohanes Agata L. Sandopart

doi:10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.509

Authors

Dewa Ayu Indiana Ida Loemongga Sandopart Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia
Dewa Putu Yohanes Agata L. Sandopart Faculty of Economics, Institut Bisnis dan Informatika Kosgoro 1957, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.509

Keywords:

Social Capital, Circular Economy, Informal Credit System, Mutual Cooperation, Waste Pickers, Bantar Gebang

Abstract

This study explores social capital practices in the circular economy within the waste picker community at Bantar Gebang Landfill, focusing on informal credit systems and cooperation mechanisms. Employing a qualitative approach with an intrinsic case study design, the research involved 22 participants through in-depth interviews and participant observation. The findings reveal that the waste picker community has developed three patterns of informal credit systems (horizontal among waste pickers, vertical between middlemen and waste pickers, and group-based or rotating savings) with a low default rate (<10%) enforced through social sanctions. Cooperation operates in material forms (daily contributions, physical assistance) and non-material forms (price information exchange), functioning as informal social security. Social capital serves as a substitution mechanism for formal institutional failures, yet remains ambivalent, protective yet restrictive toward economic mobility. This study contributes to social capital theory in the context of the informal circular economy in developing countries.

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