WASTE DONATIONS: Shopkeeper–Waste Picker Relations in Istanbul and the Limits of Hospitable Giving

In Istanbul, shopkeepers frequently dispose of their paper and plastic waste by giving it to select migrant waste pickers. This article examines these waste donations as a novel form of hospitable giving in Turkey, a country that has hosted millions of irregular migrants and asylum seekers since 2011. By analyzing the mutual obligations these donations create and the diverse ways that shopkeepers justify helping migrants, the article argues that waste donations occur primarily when they enable shopkeepers to reproduce their moral authority over migrant waste pickers. In doing so, it explores two related issues: the consequences of the state's retreat from providing universal welfare opportunities to irregular migrants; and the embedding of migrant hospitality within service relations in a precarious urban economy. The article concludes by rethinking informal waste labor and host-guest dynamics through the lens of dependent relations.