Providing incentives to garbage pickers

World Bank (WB) estimates say, some 646 tons of plastic waste are collected in a day in Dhaka. This amount of waste plastic is only about 10 per cent of the total waste generated in the country. However, there are other estimates which vary widely depending on their sources. But what happens to the plastic and other solid wastes produced in the city in such large amounts? There are arrangements through which the city corporations send door-to-door garbage collectors to the city's residential complexes to collect all types of solid waste, not just plastic waste and the local operators of the garbage collection chains charge the residents certain amounts of money for the service they render. One may also come across garbage pickers from underprivileged and vulnerable segments of the population roaming the city streets in search of plastic or other forms of garbage. But the proud residents of the city have no respect for these poor boys and girls scavenging plastic bottle and food wrappers, polythene bags, you name it, from the garbage dumps or the pavements where people carelessly discard plastic containers of foods and water, soft drinks, shopping bags etc.

If truth be told, the city people, or for that matter the entire population of the country regardless of their social and economic background, have little awareness about the wastes accumulating every day in the cities and their devastating impacts on the environment. Many of them, however, are theoretically aware of, for instance, the plastic waste and may impress you with their knowledge of how plastics pollute the world's rivers, lakes, oceans and how microplastics have invaded the food chains of humans and other members of the animal kingdom. But you would perhaps draw a blank, if such persons lecturing on plastic waste is asked how they are themselves working to manage their own household wastes or those of their neughbours. 

It cannot also be said that the government is also doing very well with its umpteen garbage management policies and plans adopted from time to time. Those include the Jute packaging Act of 2010, the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2021, initiatives in collaboration with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GAAP) to develop multi-stakeholder platforms and work for a circular economy. These high-sounding programmes are good to hear at donor-funded seminars and workshops. But not unlike other such initiatives and researches as on poverty, they often end up on a whimper. 

No doubt, the plans aim to reduce the cities' plastic waste and recycle those in significant amounts, but the entire effort often comes up against the challenges like poor waste segregation regimes, lack of modern disposal systems, lack of or limited recycling infrastructural facilities and low level of public awareness leading to mismanaged waste flowing into canals, drains and the sea. 

When it comes to public awareness about plastic waste, it cannot happen in isolation. That means awareness and participation of the public in managing their community's waste should go hand in hand. The public also needs to hold the poor garbage-pickers of the city with some esteem, if only because they are doing such a great job without being asked to do it. 

However, the city of Ambikapur in the central Indian state of Chhatisgarh has hit upon a novel way of honouring the traditional rag pickers who now collect plastic wastes from the city's streets and dumping grounds and  get a hot hearty meal of rice and two vegetable curries, or roti (flour chapati), dal (lentils soup), salad and pickles. And all the waste pickers need to do to get the meal is to bring one kilogram of plastic waste to the so-called 'Garbage cafes' of Ambikapur city run by the local local government bodies, the city corporations. The garbage pickers can still have a breakfast like samosas or vada pav, potato fritter served inside a bread roll, if the garbage they bring amounts to half a kilogram.

It cannot however be said that the incentive of food to the street garbage pickers is the best solution to the problem of plastic garbage or any garbage whatsoever. But it can least inspire the population to volunteer to manage their own waste in the community.

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