Waste pickers in the State may soon get identity cards, if a proposal by the Kerala Suchitwa Mission to integrate the unorganised workers into the solid waste management system turns a reality.
The ambitious plan, which is now at the concept stage, envisages providing identity cards to waste pickers, scrap dealers and waste sorters. It will empower them to segregate and collect waste from dump yards and streets without being harassed.
“We are opening a registration system for scrap dealers, rag pickers and hawkers. The aim is to develop a registry of waste collectors in the State and try to integrate them in the collection and segregation of dry waste across the State,” K. Vasuki, Executive Director of the Mission, told
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“It’s a long-term measure and the systems may take time to formalise. We are also planning to rope in the services of other government departments to give social security and health benefits to the rag pickers and waste collectors involved in the process,” she added.
The Suchitwa Mission, a technical body under the Local Self-Government Department, is looking at some of the successful models initiated in cities like Pune and Bengaluru, where rag pickers were integrated into the solid waste management system.
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In other cities
Rag pickers were part of an NGO initiative in Pune and Bengaluru and engaged by the municipal corporation authorities to collect garbage from the doorstep. They segregate the dry waste at the source.
The rag pickers used to charge a nominal amount for the service from the households.
They were also allowed to sell the recyclable scrap.
Twin advantage
The Suchitwa Misison believes that involving the waste pickers and scrap dealers will have the twin advantage of collecting more dry waste for recycling before transportation and reducing the emission from landfills. The local bodies could save the money spent on transportation to the landfill owing to the segregation of dry waste at the source itself.