Studies of informal waste recovery have described and characterized the process without a conceptual
framework for the explanation of the observed behavior of the different participants. This makes
extrapolation and comparison of results difficult. This paper provides a conceptual framework for
describing and explaining the behavior of participants in plastic waste recovery in Kano metropolis.
Twenty-five copies of unstructured questionnaire were administered to each category of the participants
involved who were selected by random sampling. The researcher’s observation and direct participation in
some of the activities of the participants also provided additional data for the study. Gidden’s
structuration theory was used to provide conceptualization to describe and explain the organization and
interrelationship of those involved in plastic waste recovery in Kano metropolis. The study indicates that
social action is never an individual egocentric pursuit, but it takes place within networks of relations and
social conventions that are bound together by power relations. The paper contends that a sound
conceptual framework is necessary for the understanding of the sector that is becoming economically,
socially and environmentally significant.