Solid Waste Management and Recycling

138 S.GALAB, S. SUDHAKAR REDDY, ISA BAUD

Employment in the recycling units is on a contract basis as well as casual work (daily
recruitment). However, workers tend to remain with the same unit over a longer period
of time. On average, women formed almost 40 percent of the workers employed
(Table 7.2). The units employed on average fifty workers, with the smallest unit
employing only 19, and the largest unit 120 workers Wage levels for men varied
between Rs1,400 – 3,000 per month, whereas for women it remained between Rs 900
to a maximum of 1,900. This indicates that women earn some 66-75 percent of what
men earn in this sector. Their wages are generally lower per hour, and men work
overtime whereas women generally do not. The only types of fringe benefits generally
given to the workers are a yearly bonus and credit against their wages. A few units also
provide compensation for costs of illnesses. Many workers in the units complain of
pains in back and chest, and respiratory infections.

Currently, these units are viable according to the profit margins found. This viability
is based on several ways of reducing costs. To begin with, the workers are not engaged
in formal wage labor, and receive few social security benefits. Secondly, the units are
located in industrial areas, so they face little protest from neighbourhood residents or
environmental activists. Some units are located in the rural areas surrounding
Hyderabad, as the government has given tax reductions and other concessions to
promote non-agricultural units there. Finally, the absence of trade unions and lack of
awareness about environmental effects of these recycling units in the rural areas
maintain their profit margins at the moment. However, these units may become
economically non-viable, if the costs of environmental externalities caused by these
units are internalized, or when they start to comply with the rules of labour legislation.

Table 7.1. Characteristics of the recycling enterprises in Hyderabad

Unit No. Waste recycled Location of the
enterprise

Years of set

up of the

unit

Age of the

unit

(in Years)

Capital size

(fixed capital in Rs)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

Waste paper

Iron scrap

Plastic waste

Waste paper

Plastic, waste paper

Iron scrap

Plastic waste pipes

Plastic waste

Plastic waste

Waste paper

Patan Cheru

Jeedimetla

Jeedimetla

Medchal

Patan Cheru

Nacharam

Jeedimetla

Kattedan

Jeedimetla

Gandam guda

1985

1980

1995

1992

1991

1972

1999

1994

1997

1997

15 years

20 years

5 years

8 years

9 years

28 years

1 year

6 years

3 years

3 years

2,000,000

30,000,000

700,000

2,500,000

950,000

4,000,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

600,000

Source: field survey