142 S.GALAB, S. SUDHAKAR REDDY, ISA BAUD
as well as the quality determine from whom the retail traders buy (see tables
Appendix). Retail traders buy 60-80 percent of their materials from itinerant buyers
The exception is metal, which they also purchase from other retail buyers This
suggests that for retail traders, itinerant buyers are the most important category of
suppliers It also suggests that metal scrap is not available in large quantities, so retail
traders have to purchase it from colleagues to obtain enough to sell profitably. Retail
traders do buy from pickers: between 12 – 33 percent of their materials come from
them. This is particularly true for paper waste, and least true for plastic. Traders do try
and bind waste pickers and itinerant buyers as suppliers to them by providing them
with loans and benefits in kind.
There are clear seasonal variations in the business for retail traders During the rainy
season, business output drops by 25-50 percent as the different types of pickers and
itinerant buyers supply less waste. The retail traders are aware of the import policy of
the government. They also have waste licenses, which are useful to them when buying
and selling the waste and to avoid any problems from the Municipal Corporation of
Hyderabad.
The retail traders make an average net income of Rs 817 per week, after costs of
renting a storage space, transportation, electricity, and water charges. For this group
as well as the wholesalers, the level of turnover is more important than levels of profit
margin in determining income. Average weekly value (for the last week during the
field survey in 1999) purchased by the units is Rs 4,045. The composition of the waste
purchased also influences the level of income. On average, paper provides 34 percent
of the total value of waste materials purchased, plastic 12 percent, metal 28 percent
and bottles 26 percent.
7.5. ITINERANT BUYERS
Itinerant waste buyers go from door-to-door purchasing ‘dry’ waste items from house-
holds and domestic workers throughout the day. From the point of view of itinerant
waste buyers, high income areas yield a better quality of waste materials, but domestic
workers normally collect and sell them. They say that they have better luck in
middle-income areas where women of the households are more likely to sell them-
selves than in the high-income areas where waste is given to maidservants and
domestic workers The itinerant waste buyers also cover residential areas, shops and
offices. They work individually rather than in groups and remain in the same areas
overtime. This ensures continuity and a greater degree of trust in the relationship with
their clientele.
Itinerant buyers are mainly from a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe background (73
percent). The remaining group is from ‘backward’ castes. They are overwhelmingly
men, with only 3 percent women among them. They are largely illiterate, and have