Waste-pickers and scrap dealers across the National Capital Region (NCR) have been hit by the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which came into effect from July 1, as tax rates on recyclable products have slashed their income by nearly half.
Hard times
Chintan, an NGO working in the field, issued a statement on Wednesday that waster-pickers — who help recycle up to 25% of Delhi’s municipal solid waste — are struggling to meet their basic expenses after recyclable items such as paper, plastic, glass, tin etc., were put in the 12%-18% tax bracket.
The average income of waste-pickers has dropped by up to 50% as price of recycled products under GST is almost the same as new products, the NGO said.
Rakesh, a waste-picker from Vivekananda Camp in Chanakypuri, said: “I used to make ₹300 a day, but now I make less than ₹100. How will I feed my family on this?” Another rag-picker from east Delhi’s Ghazipur, Ghulam Ghosh, said his income had crashed from ₹400 daily to just ₹150.
In order to raise awareness about the issue, the NGO said it will reach out to the public on social media via #WasteGST and share stories of the affected waste-pickers.
Chitra Mukherjee, head of programmes at Chintan, said: “We hope to get the attention of policy-makers to make them reconsider GST on recyclable items, and rescind GST levied on scraps of plastic, paper, glass and other recyclable items.”
