Vol. 11, Special Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Devi S and Sehgal B

Abstract:
Scrap or waste collectors of India collect scrap/ waste from individual households, sort and process the scrap and sell the materials to larger recyclers/ scrap dealers. It was found that majority of the respondents (43%) belonged to 30-35 years of age, were married (66%), were educated up to primary class (55%) followed by illiterate (24%), were from joint family type (59%), had six to ten members in the family (51%); 52.00 percent respondents’ monthly income was Rs. 10000-14000. It was found that all the scrap collectors had suffered minor cuts and 32.00% had suffered major cuts, 34.00% had suffered skin irritation and 20.00% had suffered burn (due to acid) during work. So, knowledge should be imparted to them to use safety gloves. All the respondents (scrap collectors) had to return borrowed money daily in the evening to the scrap dealers who give less profit to them. So, 95.00% of the respondents felt that they had lack of sufficient income. It was found that 62.00 per cent of the respondents used ‘Loading rickshaw’ for scrap collection followed by 31.00% of the respondents who used motorcycle with cart for scrap collection. Due to poor financial condition of the scrap collectors, subsidy should be provided by the government to scrap collectors for purchasing loading rickshaw or any other vehicle.