Solid Waste Management and Recycling

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

rials, expect them to supply materials on credit for periods ranging from 15 up to 90
days. Therefore, the working capital invested in the business can be quite high.

The average value of waste bought weekly is Rs 133,125. The wholesalers earn an
average net income of Rs 30,269 per week, after deducting costs of transportation,
labour, non-wage benefits, land and infrastructure (Table 7.3). It is evident from the
data that income varies widely between traders As profit margins are rather low, it is
the size of the turnover which determines the size of net income of the units.

The units set up in the last 20 years employ about 5 people on average, with the older
units employing seven people on average (Table 7.3). Women and children mainly
carry out sorting, whereas men are involved in the carrying and transporting of waste.
There is no shift system in these units.

Wholesalers purchase secondary materials from a variety of sources. These include
waste pickers, itinerant buyers, retail trades, government offices and others For the
four waste fractions covered in the field survey, the major proportion of the materials
purchased comes from retail traders (ranging from 63 percent for metal and paper, 68
percent for bottles, to 95 percent for plastic). The wholesalers clearly prefer buying
secondary materials that have already undergone the sorting and cleaning process
carried out by retail traders (see tables Appendix).

The extent to which wholesalers buy materials from different sources of waste
suppliers varies with the characteristics of their units. The following tables indicate
differences by size of units. Small units buying paper tend to buy exclusively from
retail traders, whereas large units buy half from retailers, 35 percent from itinerant
buyers and 15 percent from waste pickers Plastic waste units buy almost exclusively
from retail traders, with only 4 percent being purchased from itinerant buyers and
waste pickers combined (they are mainly small units). Wholesalers buying metal scrap
buy 60-70 percent from retail traders, between 15-20 percent from itinerant buyers,

Table 7.3. Distribution of wholesale trader units, according to age, size of the unit, and

average net income.

Cat. Age of the unit
(In years)

Number of

units

Size of the unit

(Number of workers)

Net income

(rs per week)

1
2
3
4

1-8

9-16

17-25

26-32

6

4

4

11

5

5

4

7

19,535

10,760

7,538

55,879

All 25 30,269

Source: field survey