In partnership with Anthesis Group, The Circulate Initiative conducted a detailed assessment of wastesheds in India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This report provides a summary of the key findings for each of the wastesheds covered in this study, including aspects of the plastics recycling supply chains where improvements can be …
Waste pickers in New Delhi have made a business proposition that the municipal authorities should find difficult to refuse. They have said that they can generate more than Rs 12 crores a year from composting biodegradable wastes and save Rs 3 crores in transportation costs if their traditional role in …
This report of the Standing Committee on Urban Development deals with action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in their 38th Report(Fourteenth Lok Sabha) on "Solid Waste Management
book>> Of Poverty and Plastics • by Kaveri Gill • OUP • Rs 695 What happens when poverty meets plastic? Economist Kaveri Gill’s research suggests the result is entrepreneurialism—hard-won and struggling still—plus a greening of the city. In her book, Of Poverty and Plastics, this idea, among several others, is …
Jyoti Mhapsekar has ideas on low-cost ways to reduce the world's carbon burden. As president of the Parisar Vikas women's waste-pickers cooperative in Mumbai, India, and a climate activist, she has first-hand experience in an industry that is not only one of the cheapest ways to reduce emissions. Recycling is …
This compilation examines the impact of the global economic crisis on informal sector workers in India and is part of a series of studies that UNDP India has commissioned. Herein, the focus is on daily waste labour, majority of whom are poor, uncounted and invisible, lack assets, are poorly educated …
TWO months ago, a fleet of hydraulic trucks of a private company started collecting garbage from homes in many areas of Nagpur. The trucks transport the garbage directly to the landfill site managed by another private company. This privatization of garbage collection has alarmed some 5,000 ragpickers who earn their …
PIL filed in the High Court of Gujarat in the matter of Swashrayi Mahila Seva Sangh (SEWA) Vs Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation & Others. SEWA files Public Interest Litigation to appoint a High Powered Committee to frame a policy and mandatory rules for preserving and enhancing employment of waste pickers all …
In garbage dumps on the eastern outskirts of Delhi, Ravleen Kaur unearths an extortion racket that runs on a lapsed contract This is not what I had in mind when I signed up for journalism. I had dreams of becoming a war correspondent and cover conflicts in, say, Afghanistan. But …
Because the primary resource, apart from land, is people. Ragpickers are human resource it is not easy to determine the amount of garbage India produces. No large corporations see business opportunities in it, political parties do not see votes in it, the media does not see stories in it. Stands …
Recyclers at a landfill in east Delhi get candid with Lavanya Ramaiah on what it takes to be a true professional. The photographs are from a recent exhibition by Enrico Fabian
New Delhi: In a desperate attempt to have the ban on plastic bags revoked, the plastic lobby has now proposed that they be authorized for collecting and recycling plastic waste from households on a door-to-door collection basis. The plastic bag awareness forum has volunteered to collect all the plastic waste …
In a non-descript slum in Jahangirpuri, the hair you throw into your bathroom bin transforms into wigs for idols, and the toys you dispose of make their way into second-hand markets. Even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is set to privatise the door-to-door collection of garbage in the city, …
When the economic downturn nosedived in the second half of 2008, the talk was primarily about macro-economic trends, causes and impacts in the formal economy. In India, where over 90% of the livelihoods lie in the informal sector, it was however unclear what the specific impacts were. We already knew …
For the urban poor in developing countries, informal waste recycling is a common way to earn income. There are few reliable estimates of the number of people engaged in waste picking or of its economic and environmental impact. Yet studies suggest that when organized and supported, waste picking can spur …
Waste-pickers worldwide gathered in Colombia to highlight how central they are to urban existence Sometime in 2007, history was unmade and made. From being a global village, the world became an urban conglomerate
Clad in a sensible cotton salwar-kameez, sporting silver and black sneakers, she is a powerhouse. She knows what she wants and does it. She makes sure waste doesn't go to waste and re-uses it to create things of beauty. Her main aim is to "ensure every rag-picker gets his share …
