What Is Waste? How Is It Generated?
Waste is a common word in an individual’s dictionary. We generate waste, dispose of, recycle, compost, and repeat the cycle, never in the same order. To live a life one must work, eat, buy, sell and reproduce. Every aspect of life creates waste. Do we ever think about where all this waste goes? It’s a rare thought. The main purpose to talk about the trend of waste generation by various human activities is to talk about what happens after. Through this article, we will try to understand who is responsible for disposing of our waste and what is their reality. We will talk about the people who are at the centre of our waste. Whose livelihood and the main source of income generation is through what is left to rot by the rest of the world.
Who Are Waste Collectors?
As part of the waste collector community and being in the profession myself for the initial 19 years of my life, all information that I will be putting forward is part of the lived experience that are unique to my knowledge and understanding. Waste collectors are people who are either part of the government’s waste collection unit or unionized/non unionized independent waste collectors who pursue waste collection as a livelihood. Through the data collection during multiple projects that we were involved in, we were able to gather that a waste picker in the targeted area is of an average age of 35 years, and has been in this field of occupation for the last 10–12 years at a stretch. These collectors began working as early as 14–15 years old to support their families or support themselves.
How does our waste Impact the waste collector community?
On an average, a household produces an average of 2 kgs of waste daily. Out of the 2 kgs waste produced 1200 gms of this is Wet waste (Kitchen waste which is mostly compostable) and 800 gms of dry waste. A waste picker will pick this waste and try and segregate recyclable material from the waste and then drop the waste at a larger dumping area. Waste pickers lead a difficult professional life in this country. Most Waste pickers have no proper uniforms or other tools and materials. The waste pickers in the mentioned areas of our regular interventions and engagements come under the unorganised sector which means they are not part of a union. This leads to a great deal of job insecurity. During the lockdown, a lot of them lost their jobs and were forced to return to their native homes. The waste pickers who were interviewed during the data collection also mentioned the competition in their workspace with the incoming DWMN (Delhi Waste Management) Concessionaire vehicles. DWMN (Delhi Waste Management) has taken over the colonies where the waste pickers traditionally worked. This has forced the waste pickers to look for more routes and longer hours. The pandemic hindered their day-to-day earnings bringing it to almost half of what they were earning in the times without a pandemic.
Current Scenario
As we discuss the current scenarios of waste collectors and the larger community. Largely the waste collector community consists in the informal workers sector as we have already talked about it in different contexts throughout the article. As more and more spaces are being taken over by the state or city municipalities for waste collection More waste collectors lose out of jobs. This seems damaging for the community and the future of many families, as a grass-roots worker I have witnessed what impact this change has facilitated. More and more families are out of jobs or any alternative source of income.
Apart from the changing patterns of the communities’ involvement, there are a lot of other issues hanging in the way of the community’s development. Children from a very young age get sucked into the system of scavenging their way of life through mountain high wastelands. In return, we in the name of development label our communities as downtrodden, dirty, and uncivilised. There is no support as such from the local or state governments which helps the waste collector community in having any sense of security in their jobs. They struggle to maintain a stable source of income for themselves and their families.
Economic Realities
Coming to the economic aspect of their livelihood, on average one waste picker is picking up waste from around 100–200 households in their daily routine and this is if they still can and the area has not been picked up by the Municipality. These households pay them 50 rupees as a monthly payment. The waste that they collect and sell daily helps them in making around 200–500/- in totality. We have to keep in mind that both these sources of income are not reliable as people may move away or choose not to give their garbage. They might not be able to collect as much valuable waste for them to get their daily earnings as well. In the name of tools and equipment, they have a rickshaw and bulk bags (Boras) in place of bins. The rickshaws require timely maintenance to pull off the weight of the garbage thus the upkeep of the rickshaw becomes a constant financial liability.
What Can You Do To Reduce Your Contribution?
As a person from the waste collector’s community and having grown up and built a life revolving around waste, my advice to all is, to begin from the smallest steps. You cannot be ambitious and overwhelmed by the amount of information that is provided nowadays. Begin with simple steps such as segregating your waste into wet and dry categories.
This picture that is attached is a very easy and simple pictorial representation of how an individual can reduce their waste by just changing a few daily habits. We often think that a small task from me will be able to bring in change. As a grassroots community worker, I can assure you that your contribution matters to a large extent. There is value in little effort.
Begin with:
- Carrying your own bag instead of plastic carry bags.
- Reduce the usage of single-use plastic.
- Support your local community waste collector and encourage others in the neighbourhood as well.
- Segregate your house waste as best as you can into just simple categories of dry and wet waste.
I would like to conclude this article by saying that I have dedicated my life’s work to understanding waste management and how we can reduce our contribution individually. I have constantly worked towards the upliftment of our community. I do not hold professional degrees for this work. I would only suggest that we can all play our part, the only difference is that we have to put our thoughts into it.