Imagine our beloved city of Mumbai if our hundred thousand 'ragpickers' suddenly vanished! Our neighborhoods would be awash in waste, well in excess of what the municipal authorities can manage. Our massive recycling industries, such as in Dharavi, would lose a chunk of their raw materials. Our city's harmful greenhouse gas emissions would continue to balloon. Our products made from recycled products would become more expensive. And most unfortunate of all, our poorest and most vulnerable members of urban India would lose their one and only opportunity to earn a meager 100 rupees a day.
This is the great irony of our cities. Our most active ‘green collar’ workers are invisible to us though they provide a critical service to us all. These ragpickers, most of whom are women and children, are driven as a final resort to the only job left for them in the city... the filthy and dangerous job of roaming the streets for hours on end, scavenging for waste, manually segregating it into paper, plastics, e-waste and so on, and then selling it to traders and middlemen in the reuse and recycling industry. And all the while enduring health hazards, abuse at the hands of local thugs, and a continual assault on their dignity. And what do these ultra low-cost workers get in return for their services? No identity, no rights, no access to public services and rehabilitation. As a relative once opined to me--"India is a rich country with poor people." He was referring to how our culture turns an apathetic blind eye to the plight of groups such as the ragpickers... in the name of karma, the derelict caste system, and countless other excuses.
But the tide is turning. There is a growing sense of outrage, for our urban hubs are now visibly spiraling out of control. And fortunately, hidden in waste is economic opportunity. Social entrepreneurs and traditional business are finally moving into professional waste management, waste-to-energy and recycling projects. Designers and retailers are seeing brand value in selling products made out of degradable and recycled materials. Regulators are establishing waste processing policies. And last, but not least, NGOs are engaging with ragpickers and giving them a voice so their livelihood is not marginalized.
Notable NGOs in this domain are Dharavi Project, led by high court advocate Vinod Shetty, and Stree Mukti Sanghatana (SMS), led by women’s rights leader Jyoti Mhapsekar. Children are core to the former’s strategy, and women to the latter’s. The Dharavi Project has instituted recycling programs across 30+ Mumbai schools, and gives ragpickers access to their solid waste. It organizes eco-fairs and artist workshops to create educational and cultural interactions between ragpicker children and their neighboring communities. It facilitates visits from low-cost providers of water and healthcare. And it generates awareness by hosting dignitaries such as the US Ambassador to India. Stree Mukti Sanghatana empowers and organizes women ragpickers into labor cooperatives and savings groups. It gives them identity cards, and teaches them techniques for dry-waste sorting, wet-waste bio-composting, vermiculture and gardening. And through ragpicker women’s empowerment, and partnerships with municipal authorities and neighborhood groups, it has helped them win contracts for waste-sorting and collection. These NGOs are giving ragpickers a chance.
So the next time you see a ragpicker wandering the streets with a huge canvas sack draped over her shoulder, remember to respect this green-collar worker for the valuable service they are providing you. Even just your awareness, coupled with the work of so many other stakeholders, may help them to one day escape abject poverty with a sense of dignity.
But the tide is turning. There is a growing sense of outrage, for our urban hubs are now visibly spiraling out of control. And fortunately, hidden in waste is economic opportunity. Social entrepreneurs and traditional business are finally moving into professional waste management, waste-to-energy and recycling projects. Designers and retailers are seeing brand value in selling products made out of degradable and recycled materials. Regulators are establishing waste processing policies. And last, but not least, NGOs are engaging with ragpickers and giving them a voice so their livelihood is not marginalized.
Notable NGOs in this domain are Dharavi Project, led by high court advocate Vinod Shetty, and Stree Mukti Sanghatana (SMS), led by women’s rights leader Jyoti Mhapsekar. Children are core to the former’s strategy, and women to the latter’s. The Dharavi Project has instituted recycling programs across 30+ Mumbai schools, and gives ragpickers access to their solid waste. It organizes eco-fairs and artist workshops to create educational and cultural interactions between ragpicker children and their neighboring communities. It facilitates visits from low-cost providers of water and healthcare. And it generates awareness by hosting dignitaries such as the US Ambassador to India. Stree Mukti Sanghatana empowers and organizes women ragpickers into labor cooperatives and savings groups. It gives them identity cards, and teaches them techniques for dry-waste sorting, wet-waste bio-composting, vermiculture and gardening. And through ragpicker women’s empowerment, and partnerships with municipal authorities and neighborhood groups, it has helped them win contracts for waste-sorting and collection. These NGOs are giving ragpickers a chance.
So the next time you see a ragpicker wandering the streets with a huge canvas sack draped over her shoulder, remember to respect this green-collar worker for the valuable service they are providing you. Even just your awareness, coupled with the work of so many other stakeholders, may help them to one day escape abject poverty with a sense of dignity.
-vikram
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