TRADE AND RECYCLING OF INORGANIC SOLID WASTE IN HYDERABAD 147
7.7. ASSESSING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE INORGANIC RECYCLING SYSTEM
The final section takes up the issue of assessing the contribution of the inorganic waste
recycling system to various aspects of sustainable development in the urban area of
Hyderabad. The indicators presented in chapter 1 are used, albeit flexibly, according
to the extent of information available in the study. It focuses on three areas of contri-
bution: socio-economic aspects, public health and environmental aspects.
Contributions to socio-economic aspects of sustainable development
Economic efficiency and viability
The recycling sector is characterized by its totally private nature: there is no govern-
ment subsidy to any actor/enterprise in the value chain. This means that currently the
allocative efficiency of the system is still high enough to make it profitable for the
various actors in the commodity chain to carry out their sorting, trading and recycling
activities. The profit margins of the recycling units have been seen to lie between 5 –
22 percent with an average of 10 percent. Net income among wholesalers is around
Rs30,000 per week. The average weekly incomes of retail traders and itinerant buyers
were found to be Rs817 and Rs1,222 respectively. The weekly average incomes of
street and dump pickers were Rs250 and Rs389 respectively. These figures show that
the majority of groups in the commodity chain can make a reasonable living from this
economic activity.
Although various actors indicate that there is more competition now within their
groups, there were no clear-cut indications that price levels were going down within
the commodity chain in the Hyderabad area. Materials were drawn largely from the
city and region, and sold in the same area. There is little to no connection made as yet
to waste from foreign sources outside India.
The operational performance of the enterprises, traders, and pickers in the chain is
well-adapted to the fine-meshed network necessary to retrieve mixed waste effectively
from households, streets and dumpsites. The lowest-paid pickers and itinerant buyers
are distributed all over the city, selling to retail traders at neighbourhood level. Whole-
salers buy mainly from retail traders, and recycling units mainly from wholesalers At
the level of wholesalers, 550 tons of paper, 39 tons of plastic, 63 tons of metal scrap,
and 14,000 bottles are recovered per week. The MCH collects an average 6,800 tons
per week; the recycling chain adds some 10 percent to that figure through its activi-
ties^10.
- The figure on the MCH comes from chapter 3, Table 3.3. Obviously, these figures are indicative only.
However, they are based on an extensive field survey, and their validity is at least as good as other
estimates found in the literature.