Support Vulnerable Wastepickers Against COVID-10

With the outbreak of COVID 19, there is an urgent need to create awareness and take precautions against the pandemic. There is an immediate need to stop infections from spreading among the most marginalized communities in our cities. Wastepickers and informal waste collectors are currently at the frontlines of our fight against the COVID 19 outbreak. At the same time, they are also the most vulnerable to these infections themselves. Above all, the danger of malnutrition, hunger and starvation loom large, given the conditions of a total lockdown in India. Wastepickers and informal waste collectors are at home in the lockdown, unable to earn. With no savings to fall back on, they face food scarcity. Wastepickers and informal waste collectors both face poverty and vulnerability to debt traps in the long run. Due to the lockdown, the supply chains of recyclables are disrupted. Once the market opens, the aggregators and scrap dealers would like to clear their existing stock, creating a higher supply of the material than demand. This will result in lower prices of the material, and low demand for the incoming material. This results in very little earning for wastepickers. That said, it will take months for the prices to stabilize. Low income may push many parents to have their wards work than go to the school. In these times, livelihood, education and in addition to that physical and mental health will take a toll.

Since the 24th of March, Hasiru Dala (www.hasirudala.in) has distributed one month ration and care kits to 11,344 (as of EOD April 13) vulnerable wastepicker families across 10 cities/towns in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. This was our immediate, rapid response intervention to mitigate hunger. Now that the Government machinery has started kicking in we will be collaborating with them to increase reach. 

Pivoting now from only distribution of rations to execute additional interventions for the medium and long term fallouts of the pandemic and the extended lockdown (now till May 3, 2020).

Within the informal economy, Hasiru Dala was the first organisation to train scrap dealers and wastepickers to operate Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs), and acted as third signatories to the wastepickers MOUs with the BBMP to act as Dry Waste Collection Centre operators and entrepreneurs. After 10 years of struggle, 33 DWCCs are managed by former wastepickers and Hasiru Dala has trained them to manage the centres; this successful demonstration over three years has helped BBMP to decide that all DWCCs will be given to wastepickers for their operation and management. DWCCs have been the means of providing sustainable livelihoods of wastepickers. The given Bangalore model of dry waste collection and management has been recommended in the Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM) Rules, 2016, notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. 

Under the COVID 19 lockdown, the waste collection including dry waste collection has been classified as essential services. The DWCCs workers are going for collection. They are aggregating the material as the market for the recyclables is completely shut. After the lockdown lifts (at some indefinite period), the businesses will have to recuperate losses over the down-time, and also pick-up trading and market footprint again. The lag in business pickup has two effects – the immediate result in lack of earnings, leading to hunger and personal debt, and the economic liability of the operators, making them vulnerable to debt.

2.1 (i) Working Capital

A rotating fund of 5 lakhs to be set up as a corpus for emergency loans for the operators of the Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) and waste-pickers. DWCC is a triparty collaboration, where the government has provided the infrastructure and payment for door to door collection, Wastepicker micro entrepreneur will operate the DWCC on basic business principles by selling recyclables he/ she manages the salaries of sorters and all other expenses. Since the lockdown there is no upward movement of the materials so the DWCC have severe cash flow challenges.

 With the rotating funds, a relevant peer to peer loan platform or the Non Banking Finance Institution will be selected for issuing emergency credit at low rate of interest to the waste pickers. For the DWCCs, it will help in making cash available for making payments and buying materials. Resulting in stable income for the sorters (erstwhile waste-pickers) and some monetary support for wastepickers selling their material to the DWCCs. Once the market stabilizes, the operators of the DWCCs and other wastepickers can pay the amount back. In the past, Hasiru Dala has taken the help of other peer to peer loan platforms for supporting wastepickers in the times of financial emergency. Wastepickers have never defaulted in their payments. 

2.2 (ii) Setting up fair price aggregation centre to support DWCCs and wastepickers

Since the lockdown began, the supply chains have been disrupted. To support wastepickers who are managing DWCCs and others who have stocked the material at their homes and small shops, Hasiru Dala will set up 4-6 tons capacity 6 aggregation centres in different parts of the city. Currently, the DWCCs are stocking the material and even after the lockdown gets over, they may not be able to sell their material immediately. These aggregation centres can buy the material and hold on to it, till the prices are stabilized. They can be commodity specific aggregation centres and will be able to buy the materials from 4 to 6 DWCCs and in addition to that 10-20 waste pickers or small scrap shops. The aggregation centres require both capital and operational cost, support for operational cost will go towards rent, salaries of sorters in the aggregation centre and transportation. The capital cost is one time cost, whereas operational cost support needs to be there for 6-8 months, till the waste market stabilizes. The aggregation centres will be an immediate relief post lockdown as it will provide direct jobs to 48 waste-pickers as sorters. It will bring in cash for the DWCCs, wastepickers and small scrap shops, who will be able to continue operations and pay the sorters and waste-pickers till the other avenues for sale of recyclables open. In the later part, they can complement the existing supply chain and continue to source recyclables from DWCCs and the wastepickers.