SCRAP COLLECTORS, WASTE-PICKERS, AND RAG-PICKERS

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

 

   

 

SCRAP COLLECTORS, WASTE-PICKERS, RAG-PICKERS, AND OLD NEWSPAPER WALAS

 

While having everything new is the general human propensity or craving, what an Old Newspaper/Scrap Collector/Waste Picker (பழைய பேப்பர்காரர்/குப்பை சேகரிப்பவர் - पुराना अखबारवाला / रद्दीवाला) is quite the opposite! Yes, he is one who runs after old newspapers, old metal vessels, old glass/plastic items, etc. Though looking odd, that is his compulsion and source to eke out his livelihood. He is an enabler and facilitator of recycling. He can also be called a ‘Recycle Material Collector’.

 

Obviously, they leave their homes at sunrise and return at sunset after more than a 10-hour hectic working day. One knows not (even they don’t know for that matter) what would be their paltry average daily earning. But, rain or shine, one can hear the yelling of these old material collectors as they cruise along our rods and streets, mostly, as we could see, with their pushcarts or tri-cycles.

 

The life of a waste-picker is not based on a bed of feathers or flowers but on a rough and tough path beset with pits and falls, bushes and thorns. The recycling sector itself is not a blanket canvas. For the so-called self-employed group in the unorganized sector, the path is ill-paved

 

Their income curve is rather skewed, not a straight line or vertical. They, however, play a role in their own ways to facilitate and usher in a clean environment and specifically clear your homes of the accumulated scrap including mounds of paper which otherwise may produce insalubrious methane if they are kept for longer periods at home and eventually break down. Methane is said to be asphyxiant, harmful, and injurious to human health. When the outside environment is said to be already polluted - especially in urban centres - and with methane off-gas which may even penetrate from outside to the interiors of the buildings, especially near landfills and/or dumping grounds, and expose the occupants to risks of air-pollution and resultant breathing problems, stacking the old materials for longer periods is fraught with health hazards and therefore not desirable. 

 

For these workers, the struggles, stress, and strain are still worse. As they dump their loads, they would be greeted by an odour of rotting food, wet cloth, and dirty diapers rising up into the air, along with a cloud of thick dust, etc. Braving these occupational hazards - especially the stench and dust - they do the collection and disposal.

  

Incidentally, the role played by waste-pickers in environment protection and conservation, apart from their contribution to economic productivity, is significant. Scrap collectors conserve resources and are engaged in socially useful, economically productive, and environmentally beneficial work.

 

The raddiwalas and household scrap collectors have been part of India’s recycling machinery for decades. Scrap collectors and waste-pickers have their own hassles - occupational wellness-related issues, social security and worker benefits, exploitation by scrap traders, threats to health and livelihood, social aspects of marginalization, and the like. One can imagine how difficult surviving on the scrap will be?

 

Let’s take the example of Mumbai. Almost all the scrap trade establishments are registered under the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act, of 1948. The Act extends to the entire state of Maharashtra and has been in force since 1961. It purports “to consolidate and amend the law relating to the regulation of conditions of work and employment in shops, commercial establishments, residential hotels, restaurants, eating houses, theatres, and other places of public amusement or entertainment, and other establishments”. The Acts provides for

 

 1. Regulation of hours of opening and closure to 8.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m.

 2. Daily and weekly hours of work not exceeding 9 hrs. per day and 48 hrs.  per week.

 3. Interval for rest: At least 1 hour of rest after 5 hrs. of continuous work.

 4. Weekly holiday: one day per week

5. Weekly off to be a paid holiday even for daily wage labourers and piece rate workers provided he/she has been employed continuously for 6 days in that week.

 6. Prohibits employment of children

The Laws and Acts are in paper. One doesn't know whether these workers benefit from them, and if so, to what extent? The key is in their implementation. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Don’t look at them with disdain or scorn. Help them in whatever ways possible.

 

Never ever bargain with them for an increase in the value of your old papers/things. After all, his income would be the difference between the price he pays you and the value for which he sells it to the old newspaper/scrap agency. Certainly, he is not going build a palace with that money to live in, much less make a big profit out of it.

 

So, when you want to dispose off your scrap materials, think of the welfare and well-being of the scrap collectors, waste-pickers, and other sanitary workers. Won’t you?

 

(R.SAMPATH)

22/6/2023