Driving Sustainable and Inclusive Solid Waste Management
Waste pickers are Individuals collecting and sorting the waste at the landfills, along the roadside and at garbage vulnerable spots and having the only source of income through selling it further. Waste picker integration at critical junctures has tremendous potential.
“Waste picker” as term was first recognized in solid waste management rules 2016.
Definition of waste picker as per solid waste management rules 2016
Waste picker means a person or groups of persons informally engaged in collection and recovery of reusable and recyclable solid waste from the source of waste generation the streets, bins, material recovery facilities, processing and waste disposal facilities for sale to recyclers directly or through intermediaries to earn their livelihood. Informal waste collector includes individuals, associations or waste traders who are involved in sorting, sale and purchase of recyclable materials.
The rules also emphasize, advice or suggests implementation on following things related to waste pickers.
- Inclusion of waste picker representatives in State Policy Consultations and in State level Advisory (SLA) committee
- Program formation for registration of waste pickers
- Directs waste generators to handover waste to authorized waste pickers and recyclers
- Providing easy access to waste pickers at MRFs and dry waste facilities to promote recycling
In the current scenario waste pickers hold immense local intelligence being an active part of the recycling and waste management chain. Waste pickers have grown from being at 1st level of value chain i.e., being involved in collection of waste to being at 3rd level of value chain i.e., pre-processing and aggregators level.
Informal waste collector includes individuals, associations or waste traders who are involved in sorting, sale and purchase of recyclable materials. –
- Informally engaged – they are doing the waste picking from dumpsites on their own free will, and the ULB has had no formal permission or order for them to work on the garbage dump.
- Already engaged or have recently taken up the work – thus persons who have been working in waste, over the last decade or more.
- Source of livelihood – Selling the recyclables to the informal waste collector is there only source of livelihood. At times it is also observed that there is a nexus between the scrap shop aggregator and the waste picker, largely based on money credit
Well before the recognition; three organizations Stree Mukti Sanghatana (in 1980s), Kagad Kach Kachra Kashtakari Panchayat (in 1990s) and Chintan (in 2000s) had started working towards welfare and structuring the work of waste pickers in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi respectively.
Since then, there have been various pilot models for involving waste pickers in formal activities. It has been through these organizations that modules for waste pickers identification and waste picker integration were practiced and piloted in particular areas but have always been limited by geography, holistic view and lack of support from government to have sustainable, replicable business model. The concern is that the positive scenario is limited to a particular geography and particular group of waste pickers.
Best cases for waste picker integration
| Sr No | Existing models | Waste picker identification | Mode of integration | Uniqueness of the model |
| 1 | SWaCH Cooperative, Pune | Through extensive field survey Approach -offering a sustainable financial model along with dignity and bringing ahead the voice of the community for social justice. | Forming a cooperative of waste pickers DTDC-user fee basis model | Balanced model-providing WPs with social benefits from the government side along with a programmatic and structured waste of self-employment. |
| 2 | Hasirudala, Bangalore | Community of waste pickers was reached out with a view to bring in dignity to their work and formalizing the system Approach -need to formalize the system and have formal access to waste and dignify the existing occupation of waste picking | Following the Lok Adalat directive in 2011 BBMP issued occupation identity cards to waste pickers Scrap shops were enumerated It was further formalized by establishing DWCC (Dry waste collection centers) | A business model as a base has made it replicable and scalable |
| 3 | Indore Municipal Corporation | Individuals collecting and sorting the waste at the landfills, along the roadside and at chronic spots were identified as waste pickers | integration was done into formal systems of waste management across the value chain | |
| 4 | Stree Mukti Sanghatana | Community-based engagement-for being voice to various social concerns like child marriage, gender equity, rights of women etc. Approach- for inclusion was by connecting social issues faced by waste picker communities and skill development for the community | waste pickers engaged in various forms of waste management activities were enlisted and made aware of their rights and social inclusion and upliftment schemes by the government | The model acts as support to local governments to establish and structure dialogue with the existing waste pickers and also for waste pickers to have their representation in the right way |
| 5 | Ambikapur Municipal Corporation | Individuals collecting and sorting the waste at the landfills, along the roadside and at chronic spots were identified as waste pickers | given id cards along with defining job roles of individuals identified WPs were introduced as paid resources for waste collections, waste sorting and labor requirement for a waste processing unit | The model exhibits the case where waste pickers have been integrated as a workforce of the local government, where payment is based on month wages for skilled labour |