My rundown for Chapter 7 will be quite short as it mostly goes into detail the various roles in the formal and informal recycling chain in Hyderabad, how they work together and whether the current system is sustainable. From the “bottom” up we have, Waste Pickers, (Street and Dump), Retail Traders, Itinerant  Buyers, WholeSale Buyers and finally the entrepreneurs and businesses that take recycled goods, remake, reuse and/resell them back into the market place. As one might be able to predict the lower down on the totem pole of this chain you go, the harsher and more insecure the working conditions. Also, this decline also coincides with a marked difference in the education and social standing (caste) of the workers involved.

These different roles within the waste supply chain have developed an interesting if often times unstable relationship with one another. Half the participants in this process of recycing function semi-legally (Retail Traders, Itinerant Buyers and Waste Pickers), while the other half (Whole Salers and Entrepreneurs), though they pay taxes and require work permits, conveniently ignore labor laws in order to cut down on costs. That being said, within the informal activities of the waste management stream, there are unwritten laws that appear to be followed on a regular basis. There is the concept of “tied” and “untied” work which binds waste pickers and retail traders to those entities higher up the chain, but which can provide a measure of  social security not available to workers from the state.

Tied work, means that a waste picker or retail trader collects for only one buyer, but in return the buyer pays out loans against the workers wages in times of illness or other crisis. Also, depending on the type of worker, working tied to a specific buyer can offer a measure of financial security in that a relationship of trust grows over time. Untied work means that a worker collects recyclables for many different buyers. This also has advantages in certain cases as one has more option for selling wares. The downside being, the worker has no access to the small security of a buyer’s loans.

The system of recycling in Hyderabad seems to be working for now, despite the fact that the lower one gets in the chain the more social stigma and resistance there is to individual workers. Waste pickers and retail traders are often harassed by police and residence who see them more as vermin than as useful laborers in the battle against dirty streets. As I mentioned in the previous post, some of that harassment has eased up in cases where workers are backed and supported by NGOs that take the initiative to educate and spread awareness about the importance of waste pickers, but harassment is still a huge problem – particularly for women in this field, who have to deal with sexual harassment and the theft of their collected recyclables more than the men do.  There is no government support for the recycling industry in Hyderabad ( as of the publication of the article that this is referencing). It’s importance it simply seen as secondary to health and sanitation, so it hasn’t received as much appreciation or attention.