Recycling takes a hit as Kabadiwalas go missing-in-action

According to a report by TOI, experts monitoring the informal recycling sector are worried that the recycling chain - from waste pickers and kabadiwalas to sorting and recycling units - is now in complete disarray. The lockdown restrictions, migration of labour and lowering of global crude petroleum prices have had an adverse effect on the sector.

Chitra Mukherjee said the Covid lockdown has impacted the recycling sector more than others. The head of advocacy and policy at NGO Chintan, which works extensively with the wastepicker community, elaborated, "International oil prices have crashed, making virgin plastic cheaper and rendering recycled plastic financially unviable. Recycled plastic used to do well because virgin plastic was expensive."

Delhi’s estimated 50,000 ragpickers play a critical role in reducing the burden on landfills, keeping waste management sustainable and promoting recycling and segregation. They carry out 95% of the recycling in Delhi and prevent 3.6 times more greenhouse gases than any project in India that gets carbon credits.

The current environment is a risk to those who are still engaged in waste collection. "While hospital employees have been trained to dispose of biomedical waste, the trash generated in containment zones is a health hazard. It is important to brief waste collectors and establish a monitoring mechanism," advised Dr Rajat Arora, cardiologist and co-founder, Genestrings Lab.

Swati Sambyal, Delhi-based expert in solid municipal waste management, said the absence of kabadiwalas in colonies showed that inter-linkages in the informal recycling have been disrupted. "Incentivising people is one way to ensure that these players return to business, while training low-skill recyclers will create an asset," Sambyal suggested. "We should now explore plans to establish domestic recycling units and look at decentralised holistic solution to revive the informal economy".