Informal entrepreneurship and the circular economy in Hungary: entrepreneurial practices of informal Roma municipal waste collectors

Abstract

Roma communities in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region predominantly work in the informal economy. By focusing on entrepreneurial activities of Roma individuals working in informal municipal waste collection, an induction driven ethnographically oriented research approach is applied whereby findings are thematically derived to create a conceptual model for integration of Roma entrepreneurial activities and formal working practices. In a wider contextual background of environmental sustainability embodied in the ‘circular economy’, outcomes primarily indicate that Roma informal entrepreneurial activities are driven by social capital formation and are serendipitously beneficial to society. Moreover, paradoxes arise in conflicting purposes of official and informal waste collection practices. The prime theoretical implication is that efforts to formalise Roma entrepreneurial activities are untenable in relation to their overall socio-economic benefits. In practical terms, the study provides indicators for integration of Roma informal entrepreneurial activities into development of circular economy-oriented policy.