“This ensures I get some money every day to light my stove”

Kesar Londhe begins her day at 5 am. After wrapping up household chores, she puts on her sun coat to begin her tasks as a waste collector with SWaCH, a wastepickers’ cooperative facilitating waste collection services in Pune. At 9 am, Kesar starts collecting waste from 200 homes in a colony in South Pune. 

Following a mandate from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), most households segregate waste into ‘wet’ and ‘dry’. While the wet is deposited into the PMC truck for further processing, Kesar sorts the dry waste she collects to sell to a scrap dealer. Without access to a storage facility, she is forced to sort and sell the dry waste daily, which takes her two to three hours. “We can’t leave the waste (in front of the residences). The people in the neighbourhood will complain to SWaCH. Also, if I leave it here, someone may steal it,” explained Kesar. 

Presently, Kesar sells her waste to an independent scrap dealer, who only requires the larger goods to be sorted, and permits smaller pieces to be mixed, reducing her workload. “(Income from selling dry waste) ensures I get some money every day to light my stove,” she explains. Kesar earns between ₹400-600 through daily sales, and between ₹15,000-18,000 monthly from households.

 Kesar has been a waste collector with SWaCH since around 2013. Born in Pune, she earlier worked in a factory that made gunny sacks. The increasing use of plastic led to a fall in demand for gunny bags, compelling the factory to shut down. That is when Kesar turned to waste collection, initially by supporting her daughter who was already employed in the cooperative, then working independently.

Kesar values the flexibility and autonomy that her association with SWaCH offers. Solid waste management operations are being outsourced to private contractors, which restricts the independence of waste collectors like her. “One has to work for eight hours, they cut pay if one is late or takes leave and they don’t even let us sell the dry waste we collect,” she describes, from what she has heard.

Her day ends by 6 pm, after which she must return to her domestic responsibilities, which she now shares with her daughter-in-law.