Solid Waste Management and Recycling

S.GALAB, S. SUDHAKAR REDDY, ISA BAUD

CHAPTER 7

REUSE,RECOVERY AND RECYCLING OF URBAN INORGANIC

SOLID WASTE IN HYDERABAD

7.1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the way that the inorganic waste generated in Hyderabad is

reused, recovered and recycled. The agents participating in these processes include

households, servants, sweepers, street waste pickers, dumpsite pickers, itinerant waste

buyers, retail traders, wholesale traders and recycling units.

The aim of the chapter is:

• to indicate how different waste fractions (paper, plastic, metal, and glass) move
  through trade and recycling channels as they are recovered, reused and recycled;


• to analyze the organization and economic viability of production in recycling
  enterprises, and the links with retailers, wholesalers, and waste pickers;


• to examine the nature of employment of the different people working in the sec-
  tor; and


• to analyze to what extent recycling inorganic waste contributes to socio-economic
  and environmental aspects of sustainable development in urban areas.^1

Households and institutions generate inorganic waste that in principle goes into the

municipal waste stream^2. Primary access in India to separating inorganic waste for

sale is by servants or family members, or lower-level personnel in institutions (Furedy,

1992; Baud and Schenk, 1994). After separation of inorganic waste at source, the

remainder is put into the municipal stream where it is mixed with other waste. At this

point, waste becomes a public good (or ‘bad’), and access becomes more general.

Further separation takes place of waste that is no longer uncontaminated^3. Access and

separation takes place at dustbins, collection points, and transfer stations by tricyclists,

1. For the research methodology, see appendix at the end of this book.


2. The level and type of inorganic waste generated by households differs according to income, with more
   inorganic materials being generated the higher the income (Baud, Dhanalakshmi, Baron, and Castri-
   cum, in preparation; Anand, 1999). Institutions include public sector as well as private institutions,
   shops, markets, and hotels; they also differ in the types of inorganic waste they produce (Snel, 1997).


3. As such, it loses part of its sale value.

133

I. Baud et al. (eds.), Solid Waste Management and Recycling, 133-159.
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.