This is a proposal made for Manav Sadhna, an NGO based in Gandhi Ashram. Project is aimed at institutionalizing solid waste management value chain in India paying special attention on rag-picker women (Paryavaran Mitra). The idea is to improve the lives of Rag-picker women holistically.

1. Life of an Unsung Hero
‘Paryavaran Mitra’
&
The Way Forward
Project Conceived
By:
Year: 2014-2015

2. Rag Picking In India
India‘s booming urbanization comes with the overwhelming problem of waste
management. As more people migrate into the major cities, the amount of waste increases at
a rapid pace, resulting in the critical issue of how to manage waste. Rag pickers play an
important but usually unrecognized role in the waste management system of Indian cities.
According to World Bank, rag pickers form two percent of most city populations. In
Ahmedabad their their census is more than 40,000i. Rag picking ranks lowest in the hierarchy
of urban informal occupations and a large number of those employed in this occupation are
women and children. Rag pickers are predominantly illiterate, unskilled and/or migrants,
belonging to the lowest in the caste hierarchy and the poorest of the poor, as they are
unable to find any other kind of employment. Currently, many of them collect waste from
landfills dotting urban spaces.
Generally, there is no employer-employee
relationship in this trade even though
contractors sometimes organize the rag picking
activity. Rag pickers are self-employed workers
with no formal or legal relationship with the
municipality or the recyclable traders. Rag
pickers suffer from occupational related health
issues such as muscular-skeletal problems,
respiratory and gastro-intestinal ailments. They
also face regular harassment and extortion
from the police, the municipal authorities and
antisocial elements. No social security benefits
are available to workers in this sector.
Manav Sadhna’s endeavour is to bring positive
changes in the lives of rag picker women,
situated in Rampir No Tekro, Ahmedabad
through the project discussed below.
Manav Sadhna
Manav Sadhna is a non-profit organization based in a quiet corner of Mahatma Gandhi’s
Ashram in Ahmedabad. Our humble mission is to serve the underprivileged. At Manav
Sadhna we navigate with the philosophy to love all, serve all. By seeing God in every
individual (Manav), mere service is transformed into worship (Sadhna). To this end, Manav
Sadhna is engaged in constructive humanitarian projects that cut across barriers of class and
religion while addressing issues faced by socio-economically neglected segments of society.
In executing this mission, Manav Sadhna is guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s unshakable beliefs
in love, peace, truth, non-violence and compassion.

3. Today, Manav Sadhna serves more than 8000 children and women through more than 35
projects. We also indirectly touch the lives of many more individuals through our healthcare
and supplementary education projects. The projects are created based on the needs and
participation of the community.
Manav Sadhna has partnered with more than 20 reputed organisations in the pursuit to better
serve the unprivileged.
Rampir No Tekro
One of the communities where Manav Sadhna has been working is Rampir No Tekro,
situated opposite the Gandhi Ashram. Nearly 150,000 people, mostly belonging to scheduled
castes, reside in this slum community. Over the years, through efforts in hygiene, sanitation,
value-based education, women’s empowerment, health, awareness, and community building
and other various initiatives, Manav Sadhna has been working towards the holistic
development of the community.
In the 25 years that Manav Sadhna has been working at the grassroots level, it has observed
that women are the most vulnerable of all the social groups. Women not only take care of the
households but they also contribute equally towards the income generation for the family.
However, since most of women are illiterate, they often face exploitation in various forms.
They also start working at a very young age and generally fall ill with time because of poor
working conditions. On a positive note, through Manav Sadhna’s efforts towards socio-
economic improvements, many women have realized the importance of education. As a
result, they are making sincere efforts to educate their children.
Rag PickerWomenOf Rampir No Tekro:“ParyavaranMitra”
Women in the community are involved in a variety of income generating activities such
cooking and cleaning homes, sewing and hand work, daily labour, rag picking, etc. We are
focusing on the rag pickers, as they constitute a large number of the women (more than
1500), with the focus to improve their working conditions and overall quality of life.
A considerable percentage of rag picker women are widows or their husbands do not work,
but engage in other illicit activities.

4. On an average, these women’s daily earnings are Rs. 85-110, out of which they spend as
much as 25- 30 % on fuel wood itself. Since the sector is highly unorganized, the working
conditions are very poor. They do not have the
proper equipment or supplies, often leading to
chronic back and knee pain along with
respiratory and heart related issues. The money
earned is hardly sufficient for their daily
existence and results in their dependency on
Kabadiwalas for a small loans (upto Rs 10,000
@0%) and Baniyas (merchants) for large loans
(>10,000 @10% per month).
The work of rag picking in itself is a service to
the society. Due to these women’s labour, a
large amount of waste reaches the recycling
industries rather than dumpsites. At dumpsites,
the waste is neither segregated nor sent for
further recycling. Instead, the waste is either
burnt or left to rot, which in turn releases
harmful gases. The process of burning also emits
highly toxic gases, thereby polluting the
environment. By collecting waste, rag pickers are contributing directly towards a Greener
Environment. Therefore, we choose to refer to them as ‘Friends of the Environment’ or
‘Paryavaran Mitra’ (PMs).
India’s Laws And Policies In Context Of Waste Managementii
The Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules passed in January 2000
mandated a comprehensive policy for collecting, handling and managing solid waste. The
Rules direct 41 Class I municipalities to extend their mandatory responsibility (collection
from common points) and undertake measures for doorstep collection of waste and citizens’
education for source segregation.
Although the Rules do not specifically mention rag pickers, they are explicit in offering a
wide range of choices to the municipalities in the systems that they may want to adopt
depending upon local conditions. Contracting out the system of doorstep garbage collection,
partly or fully, to both local and multinational operators is the most popular because there is a
strong lobby that believes that privatisation of garbage collection is cheaper and more
efficient. Frequently these measures displace rag pickers as the contracting party now has
direct control over the waste and its disposal.

5. Current Value Chain Of Recyclable Wastes:
Based on the detailed study conducted by students of the Institute of Rural Management,
Anand (IRMA) in 2013 and various reports available online, it is clear that only two kinds
of value addition are happening in the whole chain of plastic waste management (from
plastic littered on the roads to the plastic that reaches the recycling unit). These include
volume accumulation of segregated waste (done by Kabadiwalas) and the cleaning and
drying of the plastic waste (done by third party vendors). In the case of paper, only volume
accumulation takes place at different levels.
As a result of these two simple processes, the monetary worth of the plastic collected by the
PMs increases from Rs.5-6/kg (earned by the PMs) to Rs.23-25/kg (earned by the Dealer for
delivering cleaned plastic). Recycling units use this cleaned plastic as raw material. Whereas
in the case of paper waste, the price does not increase drastically as no processing is done.
The price increases marginally from Rs3-4/kg (earned by the PMs) to Rs.7-8/kg (earned by
the Dealer after the segregation and volume increases). Most recycling units cannot directly
use the paper collected from the roadside, and so, only a limited gain is available on volume
accumulation.
There are some issues in the relation of the Kabadiwalas and the PMs. Although the KBWs
support the PMs whenever they need of money, they also take unfair advantage in other
situations. First, a major portion of the waste collected by the PMs can only be sold to the
KBWs. They also give the PMs a relatively lower rate for their waste as compared to the one
ParyavaranMitra(PM)
•Goes late-night
for collecting
waste from
roadside/stations
/public dustbins
etc.
•Faces security
problems from
people as well as
stray animals.
•Segregates
collected waste
into
paper/plastic at
home .
•Sells at Rs.5-
6/kg for plastic
and Rs.3-4/kg
for paper.
Kabaadiwala(KBW)
•Purhcases the
segregated waste
from the PM on
daily basis.
•Earns a margin
as they have
much higher
volumes and do
further
segregation.
•Lends money to
PM not on
interest but with
some indirect
conditions.
•Sells plastic at
Rs.9-10/kg and
paper at Rs.6-
7/kg.
Dealer(D)
•Purchases the
accumulated and
hightly
segregated
plastics from
KBW.
•Gives the plastic
to 3rd party for
value addition
like cutting and
cleaning (3rd
party charge
Rs.8-10/kg).
•This increaeses
the quality of
plastic as a raw
material to a
great extent .
•Selling price is
Rs.23-25/kg. No
similar thing for
paper.
Recycler(R)
•Purchases the
final clean
recyclable
plastics from
dealer.
•Converts this to
granules or
plastic bricks,
which are used
by various
plastic industries
as raw material.
•Selling price is
Rs.40-50/kg
range. For paper
the selling price
is nearly Rs.10-
12/kg.

6. prevailing in the market. Also, the machines used by the KBWs are rigged to measure less
weight, thereby giving them a cost benefit.
We have also identified a huge information assymtery for the PMs as they do not even know
where their collected waste goes or how much they could earn through simple value addition
to the waste they collect.
Proposed Business Model
In order to overcome the prevailing issues and to bring about some socio-economic
development in the lives of PMs, we propose the following business model:
Since the increase in volume of waste is one of the components for increasing returns, the
main idea is to bring PMs into a cooperative group wherein they can combine and accumulate
segregated waste. As soon as they are in a group, the volume will increase automatically.
The registered group will have a name that will become the identity of the PMs. We will
issue them identity cards, which will make them official persons for collecting waste. They
will no longer face issues related with their identity thus bringing about a major social
change in their life.
PMs will also receive proper equipment, such as coats, gloves, mouth coverings, torch lights,
identity cards etc., for carrying out their work. This will not only ensure improved health but
also improve their work productivity.
The other component of our plan is to add value to the collected waste by including the
cleaning and drying process. For this, a processing facility will be opened in the community
which will be run by these PMs wherein the complete process of second tier segregation,
washing, cleaning, drying and bailing will take place. The cooperative members will hire
formal executives to manage this processing facility. After the processing, the waste is ready
to be sold as raw material to the recycling industries.
We will develop market linkages with various recyclers and agencies working with waste,
which will directly purchase this clean recyclable waste from PMs’ cooperative. Agencies
like WOW, Odhisa Recyclers’ Association etc., are ready to purchase this clean waste from
PMs’ cooperatives. The monetary worth of plastic will increase from Rs.5-6/kg to Rs.23-
25/kg after completing the above-mentioned steps. In the case of paper, the price increases to
just Rs.7-8/kg from Rs.3-4/kg since no processing advantage exists as of now.
Recyclers’ Association
Agencies like WOW or
Let’s Recycle
PMs Cooperative Market Linkages

7. A large part of this increased monetary worth will trickle down to the PMs after taking care
of the expenditures of the cooperative. This increase of Rs.30-40/day will bring some
financial stability in the life of the PMs.
In phase two, the cooperative itself will convert this waste into the granules, which can then
be sold at nearly Rs.50-55/kg to the industries making pipes, buckets etc. The members can
take care of the many governmental schemes available to cooperatives. Insurance/loan
facilities of different kinds such as health and education can be introduced. They can start a
saving-lending mechanism among themselves, thereby minimizing their dependence on
KBWs and Baniyas for the money they need now and then. Municipalities are also looking
for agencies that can do the work of collecting waste from homes/societies on their behalf.
This will also enable them to get better quality paper, which they are not getting now, further
enhancing the monetary worth of the waste they are collecting.
Please note that Manav Sadhna will play a supportive role in this project as the PMs will own
and run the cooperative. Manav Sadhna will initiate the process and then slowly phase out.
Financial Feasibility
We are considering 50 PMs for the pilot project and after conducting financial feasibility
tests, we found that there will be an increase in income of nearly Rs.30-40/day for each PM.
This increased Rs.30-40/day will accumulate to nearly Rs.1000/month, which is a substantial
amount for a PM for bringing small meaningful changes into their lives. The main change we
are aspiring is the social status and recognition that they will get by coming into a
cooperative. This project would transform the lives of these 50 women in every possible
aspect be it health, financial, social or other.
Please find below an expected cash flow statement of the PM cooperative on a monthly basis.
Assumptions:
1. There are 50 PM in the pilot project, each collecting nearly 20kgs of the final
segregated waste on a daily basis.
a. The cooperative is paying each PM nearly Rs.7.5/kg of waste. So, on a
monthly basis the total figures comes out to be 50PM* 20kg/PM-
day*Rs.7.5/kg* 30days= Rs. 2,25,413/month
b. The cooperative is receiving nearly Rs.13/kg by selling the processed waste in
the market. So, on a monthly basis the income made by selling the waste is
50PM* 20kg/PM-day*Rs.13/kg* 30days= Rs. 3,39,000/month
2. Being a section-25 company, the cooperative group is exempted from tax.
3. The average life of the equipment purchased is calculate to last 2 years as the
processing facility will be functioning on a double shift basis.

8. The surplus generated can be used as follows:
1. For the benefits of the cooperative members
2. For other projects in the community
3. For repaying the donors, in case monetary returns are expected out of the project
Rs. 20 lakh is required as the starting cost of this project. This budget includes:
1. The cost of purchasing the land where the processing facility will be set up. There is
economic rationale behind purchasing the land rather than leasing it out. The total cost
of leasing land will exceed the cost of actually purchasing land within a short period
of 5 years.
2. Cost of equipments used for both processing the waste like blowers, cutting
equipment, and weighing machines as well as gloves, masks and other supplies
needed by the PMs to improve hygiene and sanitation of the waste collection process.
3. The amount required to pay the outstanding loans of PMs taken from Kabadiwalas
and Baniyas. We are calculating an average of Rs.7,500 per PM as the outstanding
debt.
Also, the cooperative will keep Re.1/kg as their retained earnings. This amount will be used
towards cooperative requirements such as stationary, telephone bills, etc. We will recruit two
Monthly Rs.
Income
Net Sales ( 50PMs*20Kg/PM-day*30days*Rs.13/kg) 3,90,000
Operating Expenses
COGS (Rs/Kg of recyclable plastic)) @Rs 7.5/Kg 2,25,143
Wages at Rs 150/day/worker-8 workers in 2 shifts 72,000
Cost of Water and Electricity during cleaning and drying @ Rs. 30-35/day 3,000
Cost of Raw Materials - Soap, Salt,Wire etc. @ Rs.450/day 13,500
TOTAL 3,13,643
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses
Salary to 2 Executive@Rs.15,000/executive 30,000
Transportation-Sales(Emergencies) 6,000
Miscellaneous Expenses 15,000
Repairs and maintenance 600
Electricity Expenses 1,500
TOTAL 53,100
PBDIT 23,257
Depriciation (Life of equipment is considered 2 years) 3,208
PBT 20,049
Surplus over Expenditure 20,049

9. full time professionals along with eight working staff for the smooth operation of the
processing facility. They will be working on a double shift basis.
So, we believe that there is immense potential in this project both financially and socially. It
can successfully bring the required change in the lives of the PMs. After the implementation
of the project, the women will not only be earning better, but more importantly, they will
shift from being an unidentified person to a legitimate individual with an important role in
society, an identity that would boost the confidence of any human being at large.
i http://www.solidar.org/IMG/pdf/d3_india-social_protection_final.pdf
ii www.wiego.org/informal_economy_law/rag pickers-india