Title: Role of rag pickers in solid waste management: a case study of Mirzapur, U.P.

Authors: Vivek Kumar Ojha; Vaidehi Tripathi; Vijai Krishna

Addresses: Kolkata Zonal Laboratory, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, I-8 Sec-C, EKDP, EM byepass, Kolkata-700107, India ' Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India ' Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India

Abstract: Due to drastic and rapid growth in the utilisation of resources, the time is right for the proper management of discarded material to reduce undesirable effects on human health and the environment. The characterisation and quantification of solid waste were greatly influenced by nearby communities and their economic status, while their sorting from primary collection points to dumpsites has been accomplished by other communities; rag pickers in most of the places. This task by these communities plays a crucial role in reducing the amount of recyclable and reusable material sent to land fill. This paper demonstrates the role of rag pickers in the management of solid waste, their socio economical status, and the effects on their health due to frugal management systems in Mirzapur, a known town of Uttar Pradesh in India. This paper also looks at the services provided by the government to this community and the existing legislation in hidden management practices. With a good future prospective, the socio-economic development management (SEDM) image has been sketched in this study, which gives the platform for decision makers to extract good and valuable information.

Keywords: solid waste management; reuse; recycling; rag pickers; climate change; India; health; government services; legislation; socio-economic development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2014.061803

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2014 Vol.17 No.2/3/4, pp.134 - 142

Received: 16 May 2013
Accepted: 05 Sep 2013
Published online: 30 Jun 2014 *

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